ALAUDID.E — THE LARKS. 13-, 



Family ALAUDIDiEJ. — The Larks. 



CnAU. First primary very sliort or wanting. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly and posteriorly, 

 with the plates nearly of corresponding position and number. Hind claw very long 

 and nearly straight. Bill short, conical, frontal feathers e.xtending along side of the bill; 

 the nostrils concealed by a tuft of bristly feathers directed forward. Tertials greatly 

 elongate beyond the secondaries. 



Subfamilies and Genera. 



Alaudinae. Bill stout, .<;hort, and conical ; nasal fossre transverse and completely 

 tilled l^v ilie thick tuft of bristly feathers, and perforated anteriorly by a circular 

 nasal opening. (Old and New World.) 



Crown with a depressed soft crest of feathers, of normal structure ; a spu- 

 rious primary ; tail deeply emarginate Alanda. 



Crown without a crest, but occiput with an erectile tuft of narrow elon- 

 gated feathers on each side. No spurious primary ; tail square, or slightly 

 niundcd ............ Eremophila. 



Calandritinae. Bill broader, more dejjressed, and straigliter at the base ; nasal 

 fossSB longitudinal, large, elongated, the nasal opening rather linear. (Old World.) 



Of the Alav.duloc only the two geneva diagncsed above belong to the 

 American continent ; and one of them is properly only a wanderer from the 

 Old World, while the other is cosmopolitan. 



The most characteristic feature of the Larks among other oscine families 

 is seen in the scutellation of the tarsus. The anterior half of this is co^'- 

 ered by divided scales lapping round on the sides, but instead of the two 

 plates which go one on each side of the posterior half and unite ultimately 

 behind as an acute ridge, there is but one vvlucti laps round on the sides, 

 and is divided into scales like the anterior ones, but alternating with them. 

 The posterior edge of the tarsus is as obtuse as the anterior, instead of 

 being very acute. There is a deep separating groove on the inner side of the 

 tarsus ; and there n^ay l)e really but one plate divided trans^'ersely, tlie edges 

 meeting at tliis j)lace. 



Li the elongated hind claw and lengthened tertials, general style of color- 

 ation, mode of life, and manner of nesting, there is a decided approximation 

 in tlie Alaudidm to the Anihincr, of the family Motacillidce. ; but in these 

 the posterior edge of the tarsus is sharp and undivided transversely, the toes 

 more deeply cleft, the bill more slender, etc., — their relations being rather 

 nearer to the Sylvicolidcc than to the present family. 



Genus ALAUDA, Linn. 

 Alauda, LiN.x. S. N. 1735. 



Gev. Char. Bill very small, less than half the length of the head, conical ; nostrils 

 exposed; rictal bristles quite strong; commissure without notch; tarsus much longer 



