LARKS AND ALLIED SPECIES. 151 



two additional lines. The tongue is slender, emarginatc, and 

 finely papillate at the base, flat, thin-edged, with the tip slit 

 and bristly. The oesophagus is of uniform diameter, without 

 dilatation, in which respect it differs entirely from that of the 

 Deglubitores, to which most authors have referred this group ; 

 the proventriculus oblong, with simple oblong glandules. The 

 stomach is a powerful muscular gizzard, roundish, compressed, 

 its lateral muscles very large, as are their radiated tendons ; 

 its cuticular lining tough and rugous. The intestine is short 

 and of moderate width, its duodenal portion wider ; the rec- 

 tum with an oblong dilatation ; the coeca very small and cylin- 

 drical. See PI. XIII, Fig. 4, and PL VIII, Fig. 5. 



The eyes are of moderate size ; the eyelids feathered, with a 

 narrow, bare, crenate margin. The external aperture of the 

 ear large, transversely oval. The nostrils elliptical or oblong 

 in the lower and fore part of the nasal depression, which is 

 rather large, and feathered except on its anterior portion. 



The legs are of moderate length, or rather long, and slender ; 

 the tarsus compressed, anteriorly covered with eight scutella, 

 sharp behind, with two longitudinal plates. The toes slender, 

 compressed ; the first longer, scarcely stouter, generally with 

 a very long, straightisli, compressed, tapering claw ; the second 

 and fourth about equal, the third much longer ; their claws 

 longish, arched, slender, much compressed, laterally grooved, 

 and tapering to a fine point, that of the outer toe generally 

 shorter than that of the inner. 



The plumage is generally soft and blended ; the feathers 

 ovate, of loose texture, with a long slender plumule. The 

 wings are rather long, broad, and semicordate ; the quills 

 eighteen, the first extremely small or entirely wanting; the 

 next three nearly equal and longest ; the secondaries very long, 

 emarginate, excepting the inner three, which are tapering, and 

 of which one is so elongated as nearly to equal the longest 

 primaries. The tail, of twelve feathers, varies in length, 

 being in some moderate, in others long, and is more or less 

 emarginate. 



The skeleton is of delicate structure, but so similar to that 

 of the Passerinae described in Vol. I, p. 320, and that of the 



