“Shape ovate. Ground-color very pale greenish white, variously mottled and spotted with pale french-gray under-markings and brown upper-markings. In one egg the markings are chiefly concentrated into a zone round the middle of the shell; in the other two they are pretty equally scattered over the whole shell. Measurements 21 mm. by 16 mm.”
A set of two eggs is “Much like the above and equally spotted all over, but the over-markings are of a more yellowish brown. Measurements 22 mm. by 15 mm.
“This lark was nesting in an open bit of country thinly covered with tufts of grass, beneath which the nests were concealed. Fully fledged young birds of this species were also observed on the same date.” (Grant and Whitehead.)
Genus MIRAFRA Horsfield, 1821.
Bill very stout, almost finch-like, its depth at nostril almost as great as its length from nostril and equal to about two-thirds of the hind claw; nostrils exposed; rictal bristles short; tertials shorter than secondaries; first primary equal to one-third of the second, the latter about equal to the third, fourth, and fifth; hallux slightly shorter than its claw.
690. MIRAFRA PHILIPPINENSIS Ramsay.
PHILIPPINE BUSH LARK.
- Mirafra philippinensis Ramsay, Ibis (1886), 160; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 605; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 243; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 103.
Luzon (Heriot, Möllendorff, Steere Exp., McGregor, Whitehead); Mindanao (Mearns); Mindoro (McGregor).
Adult.—Upper parts blackish brown, streaked with ochraceous-buff; superciliary line from bill to nape dark buff; cheeks and ear-coverts buff, speckled with black; chin and throat cream-buff; remainder of under parts dull ochraceous-buff, darker across the chest which is marked with small dusky spots; wing-feathers dark brown; quills ochraceous-buff on inner webs; primaries and their coverts edged with rusty buff on outer webs; secondaries and coverts edged with ochraceous-buff on outer webs; tertials edged with buff on both webs; outermost pair of rectrices with outer webs and most of the inner webs white; next pair with outer webs white half way to the shaft. Iris light brown; bill horn-color, lighter on lower mandible; feet and nails light flesh-color. A male from Luzon measures: Length, 140; wing, 70; tail, 46; culmen from base, 12; depth of bill at nostril, 65; tarsus, 21; hind toe with claw, 16. A female, wing, 68; tail, 42; culmen from base, 12; depth of bill at nostril, 6; tarsus, 21; hind toe with claw, 15.