674 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



Genus ALAUDA Linngeus, 1758. 



Bill similar to that of Anthiis, but stouter and blunter; nostrils pro- 

 tected by short feathers and several hairs; rictal bristles few and short; 

 first primary shorter than primary-coverts; second primary nearly as 

 long as third, which is equal to fourth; tertials slightly longer than 

 secondaries; claw of hallux slender, nearly straight, and equal to more 

 than two-thirds the length of tarsus. 



689. ALAUDA WATTERSI Swinhoe. 

 FORMOSAN SKYLABK, 



Alauda icattersi Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1871), 389; McGbegob and 



WoECESTEB, Hand-List (1906), 103. 

 Alauda gulgulu Shabpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 575 (part); 



Gbant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 244 (eggs); Whitehead, Ibis 



(1899), 243 (nest). 



Bohol (Everett, McGregor) ; Luzon [M Ollendorff, Whitehead, McGregor, 

 Bartsch) ; Sibuyan (McGregor); Ticao (McGregor). Formosa and the Pesca- 

 dores. 



Adult. — Upper parts blackish brown, streaked with ochraceous-buff ; 

 lores and superciliary stripe from bill to nape pale buff or whitish; ear- 

 coverts dusky; malar region and sides of throat marked with small 

 blackish spots; imder parts white; chest buff with short blackish shaft- 

 lines ; sides and flanks buff, the latter obscurely streaked with dark brown ; 

 wing-feathers and rectrices dark broA\Ti, edged with cream-buff or ruddy 

 buff ; outermost pair of rectrices entirely white ; the next pair with their 

 outer webs white. 



In freshly molted individuals the feathers of upper parts are rounded 

 at the ends and fringed with white, producing a squamate appearance, 

 which disappears as the plumage becomes worn; feathers of occiput 

 somewhat lengthened forming a crest, and the feathers of sides of nape 

 forming short ear-tufts. 



A male in fresh plumage measures: Length, 150; wing, 85; tail, 54; 

 culmen from base, 15; depth of bill at nostril, 5; tarsus, 23; hind toe 

 with claw, 24. A female in worn plumage measures : Wing, 81 ; tail, 

 48; culmen from base, 13; depth of bill at nostril, 5; tarsus, 23; hind 

 toe with claw, 22. 



This species is very similar to the European sk}'lark from wliich it is 

 distinguished by its much smaller size. 



Three eggs of the Formosan skylark from Isabela Province, Luzon, 

 collected by AMiitehead on May 25, 1894, are thus described: 



"Shape ovate. Groimd-color very pale greenish white, variously 

 mottled and spotted with pale french-gray under-markings and brown 

 upper-markings. In one egg the markings are chiefly concentrated 



