East-Asiatic Shore-Lark. 187 



if he had taken the trouble to examine the material which 

 has " come to light " since he wrote his articles in the ' Birds 

 of Europe/ It seems to me that when the facts respect- 

 ing them are known, no "unbiassed ornithologist" can 

 doubt that these three forms all belong to one species. All 

 three forms occur both in Turkestan and in the Himalayas, 

 and are connected together by a series of intermediate forms, 

 so that the division into two or three is a perfectly arbitrary 

 one. I have only been able to get the measurements of three 

 Mongolian skins; but as one of these is of the small form, one 

 somewhat larger, and the third of the large form, there cannot 

 be much doubt that the variation in Mongolian forms is the 

 same. Precisely the same variation of size, both of wings 

 and bill, occurs in O. penicillata, so that if there are two or 

 three species of Eastern Asiatic Shore-Larks, there must 

 also be the same of Western Asiatic Shore-Larks. The 

 amount of black at the base of the upper mandible varies also 

 irrespective of locality, and the variation is also found to 

 nearly the same extent in 0. penicillata. The width of the 

 white band which separates the black of the neck from the 

 black of the breast seems to depend entirely on the make up 

 of the skin. If the neck is stretched it looks broad, but if 

 it is made up short it of course looks narrow. Winter skins 

 show more white on the neck and forehead, because at that 

 season many of the black feathers have pale tips, which are 

 cast in spring. None of the characters pointed out appear 

 to me to be of the slightest specific, or even subspecific, 

 value, because they are not confined to birds from any one 

 locality, nor are they confined to one species only, but 

 appear to be individual variations common to the genus. 

 Dresser appears to be shocked at a difference of '8 inch in 

 the length of wing in one species, though he admits a similar 

 difference in his skins of 0. penicillata, and both he and I 

 agree to a variation of a whole inch in the length of wing of 

 the Common Sky-Lark. Difference of size, where it is co- 

 existent with difference of geographical distribution, may 

 warrant subspecific distinction ; but where nature has not 

 drawn a geographical distinction most ornithologists are con- 



