ALAUDID^ — THE LARKS. 135 



Family ALAUDID^. — The Larks. 



Char. First primary very short or wanting. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly and posteriorly, 

 with the plates nearly of corresponding position and number. Hind claw very long 

 and nearly straight. Bill short, conical, frontal feathers extending along side of the bill ; 

 the nostrils concealed by a tuft of bristly feathers directed forward. Tertials greatly 

 elongate beyond the secondaries. 



Subfamilies and Genera. 



Alaudinae. Bill stout, short, and conical ; nasal fossee transverse and completely 

 filled by the thick tuft of bristly feathers, and perforated anteriorly by a circular 

 nasal opening. (Old and New World.) 



Crown with a depressed soft crest of feathers, of normal structure ; a spu- 

 rious primary ; tail deeply emarginate Alauda. 



Crown without a crest, but occiput with an erectile tuft of narrow elon- 

 gated feathers on each side. No spurious primary ; tail square, or slightly 



rounded Eremophila. 



Calandritiuce. Bill broader, more depressed, and straighter at the base ; nasal 

 fossie longitudinal, large, elongated, the nasal opening rather linear. (Old World.) 



Of the Alav.didcc only the two genera diagnosed above belong to the 

 American continent ; and one of them is properly only a wanderer from the 

 Old World, while tlie other is cosmopolitan. 



The most characteristic feature of the Larks among other oscine families 

 is seen in the scutellation of the tarsus. The anterior lialf of this is cov- 

 ered by divided scales lapping round on the sides, but instead of the two 

 plates which go one on each side of the posterior half and unite ultimately 

 behind as an acute ridge, there is but one which laps round on the sides, 

 and is divided into scales like the anterior ones, but alternating with them. 

 The posterior edge of the tarsus is as obtuse as the anterior, instead of 

 being very acute. There is a deep separating groove on the inner side of the 

 tarsus ; and there may be really but one plate divided transversely, the edges 

 meeting at tliis place. 



Li the elongated hind claw and lengthened tertials, general style of color- 

 ation, mode of life, and manner of nesting, there is a decided approximation 

 in the Alaudidce to the Anthince, of the ftimily Motacillidm ; but in these 

 the posterior edge of the tarsus is sharp and undivided transversely, the toes 

 more deeply cleft, the bill more slender, etc., — their relations being rather 

 nearer to the Sylvicolidce than to the present family. 



Genus ALAUDA, Linn. 



Alauda, LiNN. S. K. 1735. 



Gen. Char. Bill very small, less than half the length of the head, conical; nostrils 

 exposed ; rictal bristles quite strong ; commissure without notch ; tarsus much longer 



