ANTHUS. 



157 



Total length, 4.35 ; wing, 2.26; tail, 1.94; difference between 1st and 6th 

 quills, .32 ; length of bill from forehead, .51, from nostril, .35, along gape, 

 .61; tarsus, .77; middle toe and claw, .66; claw alone, .20; hind toe and 

 claw, .70; claw alone, .40 



This species is much like Neocorys spraguei in appearance, though 

 much smaller (an inch and a half shorter), and with a greenish-yellow 

 gloss on the under parts, wanting in the former. The coloration is 

 otherwise very similar. The wings are shorter and not so much 

 pointed, the 5th quill being half way between the 4th and 6th, instead 

 of being two-fifths of the total distance from the 6th, and three-fifths 

 from the 4th. The hind toe and claw are perhaps not quite as long, 

 but still about equal to the tarsus. Whatever, therefore, be the 

 validity of the genus Neocorys, the N. spraguei appears to be the 

 nearest relative of the present species, agreeing with it in shorter 

 tail and longer legs compared with Anthus, but differing from both 

 in the shorter, more rounded wings. 



I am by no means certain of the correctness of identification of 

 the specimen. No South American birds are, perhaps, in a greater 

 state of confusion than the Titlarks ; and in the absence of accurate 

 indications of the proportions of the quills, etc., so necessary in de- 

 fining species which vary so little in color, it is exceedingly difficult 

 to come to an accurate conclusion on the subject. It is not at all 

 improbable that the present species may prove to be undescribed, as 

 it is its diminutive size, rather than anything else, that has caused 

 its reference to the Alauda rufa of Gmelin. 



d. Pediocorys, Baird. 



Pediocorys, Baird. (See page 151 of the present work.) 



Although there are no members of the present section known with 

 certainty to belong to North or Middle America, I describe the two 

 South American species before me as a contribution to the history 

 of the genus. 



Antlius bogotensis. 



Anthus bogotensis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1855, 109, pi. 101 ; 1858, 550 (Bo- 

 gota and Ecuador). 



