302 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSERES— OSCINES. 



black. Length about 6.50; wing 3.00; tail about 2.75; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.90; hind toe and 

 claw 0.65. Nest on the ground; eggs usually 4-6, 0.75 X 0.55, whitish, thickly speckled 

 with browTi. B. flavus is a protean species of Europe, Africa, and Asia, occurring abundantly 

 in Alaska, in a form with whole side of head, below the white stripe, slaty-blackish, and some 

 dusky markings on breast ; this is the Asiatic subspecies given in 2d-4th eds. of the Key as 

 "flavus?", and considered the same by Sharpe, of extensive dispersion in Siberia, Kamt- 

 schatka, and southward. B. leticostriatiis Hom., J. F. 0., 1878, p. 128; B. f. leucostriatus 

 St., Orn. Expl. Kamtsch., 1885, p. 280; Eidgw., Man., 1887, p. 535; A. O. U. Lists, 

 No. 696. 



AN'THUS. (Gr. avdos, anthos, Lat. anthus, a kind of bird.) Pipits. Bill shorter than 

 head, about as wide as high at base, compressed in most of its extent, acute at tip, where dis- 

 tinctly notched; culmen slightly concave between base and terminal convexity; rictus slightly 

 bristled. Wings longer than tail, usually tipped by first 4 primaries, 5th abruptly shorter. 

 Tarsus not shorter or rather longer than hind toe and claw ; inner lateral toe rather longer than 

 outer, or the two about equal ; hind claw always lengthened and straightened (as in the figure 

 beyond given oi A ntJms pensilr aniens). Coloration "niggled" — that is to say, broken up 

 in streaks and spots. The species of Anthus make up about half the fiimily ; there are sev- 

 eral genera. In typical Anthus the wing is longer than the tail, and its point is formed by 

 the outer 4 primaries, the 5th being abruptly shorter ; the hind claw is nearly straight, and 

 nearly or quite equals its digit in length. Neocorys only differs in having the feet larger and 

 tail shorter. In certain S. Am. forms {Pediocorys and Notiocorys) the wing is more rounded, 

 and 4 or even 5 primaries enter into tip of wing ; in several European subgenera only 3 pri- 

 maries are abruptly longer than succeeding ones. Anthus pensilranicus is strictly congeneric 

 with the European A. spinoletta, type of the genus. About 50 species (among them six or 

 eight Central and South American ones) have been ascribed to Anthus ; the true number is less 

 than 40. They are terrestrial and more or less gregarious birds, migratory and insectivorous ; 

 nest on the ground, a large compact structure of grasses, mosses, hairs, feathers, etc. Eggs so 

 heavily specked and clouded with bro\A'n as to present a nearly flat dark tone. 



Analysis of Subgenera and Species. 



Tarsus not shorter (rather longer) than hind toe and claw. Tail moderately shorter than wing, the outstretched feet not 

 reaching beyond its end (Anthus proper). 

 Markings of upper parts distinct — 



Except on rump and upper tail-coverts. Europe ; Greenland pralensis 



Including rump and upper taU-coverts. Asia ; Alaska ? L. Gala cervinus 



Markings of upper parts obscure. North America pensihanicus 



Tarsus shorter than hind toe and claw. Tail only about two-thirds as long as wing, the outstretched feet reaching 

 beyond its end (Subge7uis Neocorts). 



Markings of upper parts distinct spraguei 



A. praten'sis. (Lat. pratensis, relating to pratum, a meadow.) Meadow Pipit. Adult: 

 Upper parts pale greenish -brown, distinctly marked with blackish-brown centres of the feath- 

 ers; wing-quills and coverts clove-brown, edged with greenish-gray. Tail-feathers dark 

 brown, edged with the greenish shade of the back ; outer one obliquely white for nearly half 

 its length, and others with white at end. Cheeks olivaceous, speckled with dusky. Under 

 parts brownish-white with a tinge of green, marked on breast and sides with brownish-black 

 streaks running forward as a maxillary chain; chin, belly, and under tail-coverts unmarked. 

 Bill dusky above and at end, the rest livid flesli-color; feet obscure flesh-color; iris blackish. 

 Length about 6.00 ; extent 9.50 ; wing 3.00; tail 2.50; bill 0,50 ; tarsus 0.75. Eggs 0.78 X 

 0.58. Europe; Africa; North American as occurring in Greenland, and also, it is said, in 

 Alaska. I have seen Alaskan Pipits, certainly not pensylvanicus, but too young and in too bad 

 condition to furnish decisive characters. 



