LARKS. 



485 



acconnt. of distantly related forms liMvint; been placed in juxtaposition in the linear 

 sequence. The allied forms must be looked for at the root of each series, not at the 

 end. Kegardinij our system as a tree, it is our plan to place it on paper by working 

 from the stem up the first branch to its to]i, then descending to the base of the next 

 branch, to again work upwards, and so on until the top of the last branch is reached. 

 In cases of reasonaljle doubt, however, we propose to give the conventional arrange- 

 ment the benefit of the doubt. 



f^^t4^^_^SS 



FlO. 236. — Alauda arbonii, wooU-lark (upper) ; A. arvcusis, sky-lark (left) ; A. crialala, orested-lark (right). 



This last ])aragrapli is applicable to the family of the lark.s, the Alaudid^. 

 They have sorely troubled sy.stematists by apparently exhiliiting characters of two 

 groups as diverse as the i^fotacillida' and the Emberizina-, and at the same time pos- 

 sessing a feature so unitpie within the ]iresent su])er-family as to prevent their proper 

 assignment to either. This peculiarity consists in the holaspidean tarsi, technically 

 making them scutelliplantar, the hind surface of the tarsus being broken up into scutes 

 similar to those covering the front jiart. This is geneially regarded as a generalized 

 feature, iience the larks are usually placed at the bottom. We have a strong sus- 



