510 LARK 
described was referred to the genus pupa, and named U. alaudipes. 
The resemblance, however, is merely one of analogy. The Hoopoe 
belongs to a totally distinct Order of birds, widely differing ana- 
tomically and physiologically, and we can hardly yet assume that 
this resemblance is the effect of what is commonly called Mmiucry, 
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 was recognized many years ago 
by Canon Tristram (Jbis, 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, Lidlula, already noticed, it is almost as slender as a Warbler’s ; 
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MELANOCORYPHA, RHAMPHOCORYS. 
in Ammomanes it is short ; in Certhilauda and Alxmon it is elongated 
and curved ; in Pyrrhulauda and Melanocorypha it is stout and Finch- 
like; while in Rhamphocorys it is exaggerated to an extent that 
equals almost any Fringilline form (cf. GROSBEAK), exceeding in its 
development that found in some members of the perplexing genus 
Paradoxornis, and even presenting a resemblance to the same feature 
in the far-distant 4nastomus (OPEN-BILL)—the tomia of the maxilla 
not meeting those of the mandibula along their whole length, but 
