BRIAN S. MEADOWS AND PETER SYMENS

BSM was watching a Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris, near the grove, when a short-tailed lark with rather rounded wings and much smaller than a Skylark Alauda arvensis, landed close to the pipit. It was exceptionally tame, permitting observation down to a few metres. With the sun directly behind the observer excellent views of the bird were obtained. As the bird flew in, the immediate thought was of Small Skylark Alauda gulgula. This species was easily eliminated by the presence of buff supercilia which clearly met on the nape and the very obvious black-and-white mark on the leading edge of the wing. The bird was observed for about 10 minutes.

In the evening, BSM informed PS who relocated the bird three days later in similar habitat north of the Holiday Inn. It was observed under similar conditions for about five minutes, after which it flew off in a southerly direction. There were no further sightings.

General appearance and behaviour. A relatively plump bird with a noticeably short tail; it searched for food in an active bustling manner. The bill (for a lark) was thin. It occasionally took short, low hesitant flights for no apparent reason. Flight buoyant, quite unlike other species of larks, while the short tail combined with the rather rounded wings gave it a very distinct silhouette. A crest was indicated but never seen erect.
Plumage. Upperparts mainly ginger-brown with black centers to all feathers of crown, nape, mantle and upper back. Darker tail with white tip and pale brown edges. Wings also ginger-brown with black centres to feathers and distinct black-and-white mark on the leading edge which was always clearly visible, even at rest. Facial pattern dominated by buff eye-ring and long supercilia which met on nape. Breast had a distinct broad necklace of narrow black streaks on a white background. Streaking extended onto the flanks. Rest of underparts buff-white.
Bare parts. Iris dark brown. Two-toned bill: upper mandible dark grey with pinkish-flesh cutting edge of the same colour as lower mandible. Legs dull brownish-yellow.
Voice. On 25 December the bird was heard to call repeatedly in flight: a characteristic and loud two-syllable 'duw-leet'.

Hollom et al. (1988) mention Woodlark as a vagrant to eastern Arabia south to Bahrain. There are three records from Bahrain, involving four individuals, in December (twice) and February (Nightingale and Hill 1993). In their checklist of the birds of the Arabian Gulf States, Bundy and Warr (1980) list records from Kuwait in August (one), October (one record of eight birds), December to January and February (twice). Furthermore they included a record from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in December 1973. Another Woodlark in Saudi Arabia was mentioned by Jennings (1984): a single bird at Jubail in March 1983. In the absence of a description, both Saudi records were regarded as unacceptable by Bundy et al. (1989) in their review of the avifauna of the Eastern Province. Therefore this new record is the first to be documented in Saudi Arabia.

The plumage of the Jubail bird, as shown by the narrowness of the black breast streaks and white, rather than buff, background, indicates that the bird was of the race pallida (Cramp 1988), which breeds in the Mediterranean region and the northern Middle East from Turkey east to Iran. It is migratory or partially so in the northern parts of its range, but mainly resident or dispersive elsewhere. Specimens of this race have been obtained in winter in Egypt (Cramp 1988).

During the second half of December 1994 there was an influx of several other rarities into the Jubail area, including Striated Scops Owl Otus brucei (a road-kill on 18/12), Robin Erithacus rubecula (several birds throughout December), Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus (one on 19/12), Blackbird T. merula (one on 22/12), Red-fronted Serin Serinus pusillus (one on 31/12) and Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes (one on 27/12). The latter two species constituted new records for the Arabian peninsula (Symens in press, Meadows in press). Furthermore, both Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis and Common Linnet C. cannabina were observed in larger numbers than usual in Kuwait (C. W. T. Pilcher pers. comm.). All these species breed in northern parts of the Middle East and have dispersive, short-distance migrations, only occasionally reaching as far south as the Arabian peninsula (Bundy et al. 1989; Hollom et al. 1988).

Brian S. Meadows, P. O. Box 10476, Jubail 31961, Saudi Arabia (Address for correspondence:
9 Old Hall Lane, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, C014 8LE, U.K.).
Peter Symens, NCWCD, c/o Jubail Marine Wildlife Sanctuary, P. O. Box 11071, Jubail 31961, Saudi Arabia.

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