Oeder PASSERES. 



Family ALAUDID^. 



105. Alauda blakistoni Stejneger. 



ie26.—Alaudacoelipeta Pall., Zoogr. Roos. Asiat., I, p. 524 (part). 



1858.— Jlauda arvensis Kittl., Denkw., II, p. 198 {nee Lix.).— Taczan., Bull. Soc. 



Zool. France, 1882, p. 389.— Dybow., Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1883, p. 361. 

 1882.— Alauda cantarella Blakist. & Pryer, Trans. As. Soc. Japan, X, 1882, p. 166 



(nee Bp.). — Alauda ? Blakist., Amend. List B.Jap., p. 59 (1884). 



1884. — Alauda sp. Stejneger, Naturen, 1884, p. 5. 



ISbi.— Alauda blakistoni Stkjukgf.r, Pr. Biol. Soc. Washingt , II, p. 98. 



Oue needs almost apologize when creating a new species among the 

 Palsearctic Alaudw. The group is a most perplexing one, and consider- 

 able confusion exists in regard to the East Asiatic forms. But it is 

 thought that the naming of the present bird will tend to clear the 

 confusion which has arisen from the untimely zeal of ornithologists in 

 uniting distinct forms on insufficient evidence. I cannot refer the 

 specimens from Kamtschatka to any form known to me, and I will not 

 be found guilty of applying to them a name which I do not consider 

 properly belonging to them. Taking the name of a form which seems 

 to agree best, but yet not exactly, would only add to the confusion. In 

 this connection it may be proper to remark that the "reducing" and 

 *' uniting" of species is often made upon inspection of a single specimen, 

 but this is a proceeding which, in many cases, proves to be even more 

 unsafe than to base a new species on a single type. 



In a previous paper (Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, p. 08) I called atten- 

 tion to four larks in the first instalment of my collection, forwarded to 

 the United States National Museum in 1882. Since that time more ma- 

 terial from Eastern Asia has accumulated, enabling me to make a fair 

 comparison of the allied forms. 



The ten specimens collected by me show much less variation in color 

 and dimensions than is usual in larks. Having at hand a series of typi- 

 cal Alauda japonica from Japan, and arrensis from Europe, besides spec- 

 imens of coelivox from China, intermedia Swinh. from Vladivostok, and 

 cantarella from Palestine, I have little hesitation in pronouncing the 

 Kamtschatkan form different. Compared with European specimens its 

 average size agrees with the larger ones of the latter, while iu color it 

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