18 CERTHILAUDA. 



Genus I. CERTHILAUDA. 



Bill long and slender ; culmen longer than the middle toe with claw ; 

 nostrils exposed. Wing of ten primaries, the first a bastard-primary more 

 than one inch in length ; second primary shorter than the fifth. Tarsi and 

 feet pale. 



Type. 

 Certhilauda, Swains. Zool. Journ. iii. p. 344 



(1827) C. capensis. 



Alasmon, Keys, and Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. xxxvi. 



(1840) C. alaudipes. 



Cbersomanes, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 126 (1850) C. albofasciata. 

 Heterocorys, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 625 . C. breviunguis. 



The genus Certhilauda, as I have here defined it, includes five species, 

 all natives of the Ethiopian Eegiou, and one only, C. alaudipes, ranges into 

 North Africa and Asia, for I do not admit Alauda desertorum, Stanley, to be 

 distinct from Upupa alaudipes, Desf. 



The character of the long and slender bill excludes Certhilauda nivosa. 

 Swains., which is a species of Mirafra, belonging to the same group as 

 M. sabota, and the genus Chcrsophilus, Sharpe, C. B. M. xiii. p. 526 is 

 excluded by its small bastard-primary. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



. Mantle uniform ; secondaries, with the excep- 

 tion of the inner ones, white crossed by a 



broad blackish bar alaudipes. I f 



, Mantle mottled ; no white on the wing. 

 a^. Tail short, with broad white ends to all but 



the centre pair of feathers albofasciata. - , 



b^. Tail longer ; no white ends to the feathers. 

 a^. Abdomen and flanks uniform. 



a^. Dark centres to feathers of crown and 



mantle narrow semitorquata. 4j<r- 



6 3 Dark centres to feathers of crown and 



mantle broad breviunguis. r P ■■ 1 



b^. Breast and flanks strongly streaked . . capensis. - ., ^m\ 



