THE BIRDS OF GILGIT. 355 



from which it can readily be distinguished by its superior 

 size. In males the wing measures from 4 4 to 4|| inches; 

 in females from 4 to 4i ; the tarsus measures from f to -|-, 

 being generally slightly smaller than in A. guttata ; bill at 

 front barely ^, generally fe. Of the large primaries the 

 second is slightly the longest, and the first slightly shorter than 

 the third ; sometimes all three are equal ; the fourth is fully 

 a quarter inch shorter than the second ; and there is more than 

 half an inch between the tertiaries and primaries. The outer 

 web of the first developed primary is white in winter, and 

 creamy buff in summer. The distinctions pointed out by Brooks 

 (Stray Feathers, I., 484) between this species and A. arvensis 

 hold good in the series of fifteen specimens of the former 

 brought down. 



181.— Alauda guttata,* Brooks, ( ? 767 bis). 



This Skylark is a summer visitant only, appearing at 

 the end of March and leaving about October. The first 

 specimen was obtained on the 29th March, the same day 

 as the last of A. dulcivoos. One specimen was obtained iu 

 September, on the 27th, but none later. In males the 

 wing measures from 3f to 4 T V inches. I have never pro- 

 cured one yet with a wing measuring fully 4£. In females 

 it does not exceed 3|, tarsus |, bill at front from T 7 g to 

 nearly \ inch. 



Of the developed primaries the second is slightly longest, 

 first and third subequal; sometimes all three are subequal ; 

 the fourth is -,'^ inch shorter than the second. Tertiaries 

 reach to less than f inch from the primaries. Iu summer 

 the outer web of first primary is rufous ; tail more furcate 

 than in A. dulcivox, from which it is generally distinguished 

 by its darker colour and smaller wing ; outer tail feathers 

 white, aud not fulvescent. 



In one specimen, a female, shot in September, the plu- 

 mage is fresh and perfect, showing broad pale edgings on, 



* [This form was first described as a distinct species by my friend Mr. Brooks, 

 J. A. S. B., XLL, 1872, p. 85. It is the race figured by me in "Lahore to Yarkand" 

 (pi. XXVIII), under Hodgson's name of triberhyncha, but which should rather, 

 I think, have been figured as leiopus. When, in 1872, I first wrote about our Indian 

 Skylarks (S. F., I., 38), I admitted five distinguishable races of Alauda gulgula. 

 I now see that if we begin separating races, at least a dozen will have to be admitted \ 

 in the British Asian Empire, all grading one into the other, and even the most 

 typical examples of each differing in minute and doubtfully constant particulars. 

 1 therefore am averse to assigning separate specific names to these races, although, if 

 the trinomial system was in vogue, I would gladly assign to each a secondary specific 

 name and designate them Alauda gulgula australis, Alauda gulgula guttata, and 

 soon. This not being admissible under the B. A. Code, I recommend Indian Orni- 

 thologists to retain all under the one name gulgula. At the same time out of all the 

 various races, no two are better marked than australis, Brooks, and leiopus, Hodg- 

 son = guttata, Brooks.— A. O. 11.] 



