5IO 



LARK 



described Avas referred to the genus Upupa, and named U. alaudipes. 

 The resemblance, however, is merely one of analogy. The Hoopoe 

 belongs to a totally distinct Order of birds, widely diifering ana- 

 tomically and physiologically, and we can hardly yet assume that 

 this resemblance is the effect of what is commonly called Mimicry, 

 though that may ultimately prove to be the case. 



There is, however, abundant evidence of the susceptibility of 

 the Alaudine structure to modification from external circumstances, 



LULLULA. 



Certhilauda. 



— in other words, of its "plasticity"; and perhaps no homogeneous 

 group of Passeres could be found which better displays the working 

 of " Natural Selection." This fact Avas. recognized many years ago 

 by Canon Tristram {Ibis, 1859, pp. 429-433), and his remarks 

 deserve all attention, going, as they go, to the root of the matter. 

 A monograph of the Family executed by a competent ornithologist 

 could not fail to be a weapon of force in the hands of all evolu- 

 tionists. Almost every character that among Passerine birds is 

 accounted most sure is in the Larks found subject to modification, 

 The form of the bill varies in an extraordinary degree. In the Wood- 

 lark, Lullula, already noticed, it is almost as slender as a Warbler's ; 



2^(^;c.r^^ 



\\:^\ 



M ELANOCORYPHA. 



Rhamphocorys. 



in Aminomaiies it is short ; in Certhilauda and Alxmon it is elongated 

 and curved ; in Pi/rrhulauda and Mdanocori/pha it is stout and Finch- 

 like ; Avhile in lihamphocorys it is exaggerated to an extent that 

 equals almost any Fringilline form {rf. Grosbeak), exceeding in its 

 development that found in some members of the perplexing genus 

 Faradoxornis, and even presenting a resemblance to the same feature 

 in the far-distant Auastomus (Open-bill) — the tomia of the maxilla 

 not meeting those of the mandibula along their whole length, but 



