642 



PASSERES. 



ALAUDID.E. 



A LA UDIDAi. 



Melanocorypha sibirica (J. F. Gmelin*). 

 WHITE -WINGED LARK. 



Melanocorypha, F. Boief. — Bill shoi-t, stout, subconic and slightly com- 

 pressed ; upper mandible arched from the base and without notch. Nostrils 

 basal, oval, closely covered l\y bristly feathers directed forwards. Gape straight. 

 Head without elongated feathers. Wings long : first primary very small and 

 nearly obsolete ; second and third nearly equal and longest ; secondaries very 

 short and emarginate at the tip ; tertials moderate, not exceeding the sixth 

 i:)rimary. Tail short and slightly forked. Tarsus blunt and scutellated behind 

 as well as before, longer than the middle toe ; claws moderate and slightly 

 curved, except that of the hind toe which is much elongated and straight. 



Mr. Rowley was the first to recognize in a Lark netted 

 near Brighton, November 22nd, 1869, and shewn to him 

 while aHve on that day by Mr. SwaysLand, an example of this 

 rare species, which has but seldom visited Western Europe. 

 At a meeting of the Zoological Society, January 27th, 1870, 



* Alauda sibirica, J. F. Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 799 (1788). 

 t Isis, 1828, p. 322. 



