604 



P ASSUMES. 



ALAUDIM. 



ALAUDIDM. 





OTOCORYS ALPESTEIS (Linnaeus*). 



THE SHORE-LARK. 



Alauda alpestris. 



OTOCORYS, Bonaparte-^. Bill rather short, subconic, upper mandible slightly 

 arched and without notch. Nostrils basal, oval, closely covered by bristly fea- 

 thers directed forwards. Gape straight. Head in the adult male with a tuft 

 of long, erectile feathers on either side of the occiput. Wings long ; the first 

 primary so small as at first sight to seem wanting, the second the longest, but 

 the third nearly its equal, the fourth decidedly shorter, secondaries short and 

 emarginate at the tip ; tertials comparatively short, about equal to the seventh 

 primary. Tail rather long and slightly forked. Tarsus blunt and scutellated 

 behind as well as before, shorter than the middle toe ; claws moderate and very 

 slightly curved, that of the hind toe being comparatively straight. 



THE LARKS in several ways link the foregoing family to 

 the Buntings and Finches which are to follow, yet many 

 systematists refuse to regard the similarity which the Larks 

 bear to the Pipits as indicating any real affinity, and some 

 even declare that the former are a group quite distinct from 



* Alauda alpestris, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 289 (1766). 

 + Otocoris (misprint), Bonaparte, Iconografia della Fauna Italica, i. Introd. 

 alia Classe II. fol. **** (1840 ?). 



