16 ARKIV FÖR ZOOLOGI. BAND 5. NIO 9. 



Alaurta arveiisis caiitarella (Bonaparte). 



iumuin o^ (n:o 1 

 ? (n:o 188) 22/5 19Ö8 



Kjachta o" (n:o 18C), 9 (n:o 189) ^Vs 1908. Kumuin ef (n:o 187) ~Vö 1908. 

 Kudara ef (n:o 185) 7»; 1908. Ibizik " ' ----■■ 



It is always very difficult to express any definite opinion 

 about Sky-Larks. Some authors ha ve given a lo t of names 

 to what they regard to be different »species», others have 

 reduced tlie number of recognized forms. In his recently 

 publislied »Catalogue of the Spfecies of Alaudidae»* Bianchi 

 who lias thorougly studied this group, only accepts two 

 subspecies under Alauda arvensis viz. A. a. harterti and 

 A. a. hlahistoni, and even regards the first of these as 

 questionable. It appears to the present writer that this 

 is to go too far, although a considerable reduction was cer- 

 tainly necessary. The subspecific name cantarella has been 

 retained here, because the specimens of this collection agree 

 with the Sky-Lark from Tian Shan for which I have formerly 

 used this name^ in which proceeding Schalow has agreed 

 with me^ when writing about birds from the same country. 

 The difference in colour is, however, very shght between 

 these birds and Swedish specimens and in some instances 

 hardly any. The MongoHan specimens are more whitish 

 below and less, spotted. The axillaries and under wing 

 coverts are at least in some specimens paler and more isa- 

 belline. The skins of this collection are, however, not all 

 of them alike. The two birds from Kjachta are more buff- 

 coloured on the breast tlian the three others. 



The bilis of these specimens appear to be longer tlian 

 the average of Swedish Sky-Larks as it measures 15 — 15,5 

 mm except in the specimen from Kumuin in which it is only 

 14 mm. The thiclmess of the bill is quite different but as 

 the extremes are found in the pair from Kjachta — the 

 widtli at the middle of the nostrils measuring in the »? » 

 6 mm, but only 5 mm in the »c?>> — it appears to be of 

 no value. 



The bill is thus longer than that of the Sky-Lark from 

 Barnaul, Siberia, which Ehmcke a few years ago named 

 »Alauda cinerea».^ In this one the culmen is said to measure 



1 Bull. Akad. Imp. Se. Ser. V T. XXV St. Petersboiirg (1906) 1907. 

 - Ark f. Zoologi Bd. 2. N:o 9 p. 18. Stockholm 1905. 

 3 Journ. f. Ornithol. 1908 p. 227. 

 ^ Journ. f. Ornithol. 1903 p. 149. 



