PIPITS. 



487 



The family Alaudidae comprises more than one hundred species, especially char- 

 acteristic of the plains and deserts of the Eurasiatic continent and Africa, while only 

 a few forms, evidently recent immigrants, are found in the Australian and the Neo- 

 gaean regions. 



As already indicated, it is a question whether the general resemblance which the 

 larks present to certain MOTACILLID^E, especially the pipits (Anthus), is anything more 

 than a superficial analogy. At any rate, the similarity in external appearance between 



FIG. 237. European pipits (Antkus'j. 



certain pipits and the typical larks is certainly astonishing, and he who attempts to dis- 

 tinguish between some of the species without looking closely at the hind side of the tar- 

 sus, or at the nostrils, which in the pipits are exposed, will find himself in a bad fix ; for 

 the resemblance not only affects the coloration both in general and in detail, but also 

 the elongated hind claw, and the long inner secondaries. Even in the habits there is 

 considerable likeness, for the pipits have a manner of singing when on the wing quite 

 similar to that of the larks, though the song itself is much inferior. Physiologically 



