674 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



Genus ALAUDA Linnaeus. 1758. 



Bill similar to that of Anthus, but stouter and blunter; nostrils pro- 

 tected by short feathers and several hairs ; rictal bristles few and short ; 

 first primary shorter than primary-coverts; second primary nearly ae 

 long as third, which is equal to fourth; tertials slightly longer than 

 secondaries; claw of hallux slender, nearly straight, and equal to more 

 than two-thirds the length of tarsus. 



689. ALAUDA WATT EPS I Swinhoe. 



FOEMOSAN SKYLAEK. 



Alauda watiersi SWINHOE, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1871), 389; MCGREGOR and 



WOBCESTEE, Hand-List (1906), 103. 

 Alauda gulgula SHABPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1890), 13, 575 (part); 



GEANT and WHITEHEAD, Ibis (1898), 244 (eggs); WHITEHEAD, Ibis 



(1899), 243 (nest). 



Bohol (Everett, McGregor) ; Luzon (Mollendorff, Whitehead, McGregor, 

 Bartsch) ; Sibuyan (McGregor); Ticao (McGregor). Formosa and the Pesca- 

 dores. 



Adult. Upper parts blackish brown, streaked with ochraceous-buff ; 

 lores and superciliary stripe from bill to nape pale buff or whitish; ear- 

 coverts dusky; malar region and sides of throat marked with small 

 blackish spots; under parts white; chest buff with short blackish shaft- 

 lines ; sides and flanks buff, the latter obscurely streaked with dark brown ; 

 wing-feathers and rectrices dark brown, edged with cream-buff or ruddy 

 buff; outermost pair of rectrices entirely white; the next pair with their 

 outer webs white. 



In freshly molted individuals the feathers of upper parts are rounded 

 at the ends and fringed with white, producing a squamate appearance, 

 which disappears as the plumage becomes worn; feathers of occiput 

 somewhat lengthened forming a crest, and the feathers of sides of nape 

 forming short ear-tufts. 



A male in fresh plumage measures: Length, 150: wing, 85; tail, 54; 

 culmen from base, 15; depth of bill at nostril, 5; tarsus, 23; hind toe 

 with claw, 24. A female in worn plumage measures : Wing, 81 ; tail, 

 48; culmen from base, 13: depth of bill at nostril, 5; tarsus, 23; hind 

 toe with claw, 22. 



This species is very similar to the European skylark from which it is 

 distinguished by its much smaller size. 



Three eggs of the Formosan skylark from Isabela Province, Luzon, 

 collected by Whitehead on May 25, 1894, are thus described : 



"Shape ovate. Ground-color very pale greenish white, variously 

 mottled and spotted with pale french-gray under-mar kings and brown 

 upper-markings. In one egg the markings are chiefly concentrated 



