1863.] LITTLE-KNOWN BIRDS FROM CHINA. 89 



I do not think he would have advanced such strong opinions as to 

 the specific merits of the four species he has introduced into his ex- 

 cellent work. 



Genus Alauda. 



Alauda pekinensis, sp. nov. Pekin Skylark. 



Smaller than A. arvensis, L., with longer wings ; paler, without 

 the olive wash ; head much less crested. 



Length 7" 5 ; wing 4*7; tail 3"1 ; tarsi '9. 



My two specimens from Pekin I have compared with six speci- 

 mens of the English bird shot about the same season. Both my 

 examples are males, one mature, the other a bird of the year. My 

 younger specimen is, as usual in Larks, most distinctly marked, the 

 eyebrow, lore, throat, and nape behig nearly white, the latter spotted. 

 The mature bird is more rufescent on these parts, but is otherwise 

 generally paler. The six English Larks vary a good deal as to par- 

 ticular marks and length of wing. They are all longer than my two 

 birds, and yet the longest-winged of the lot does not quite attain the 

 alar length of our birds. They all unite in having their dark parts 

 of a much richer brown, and their whole plumage washed with olive- 

 yellow, which is by no means apparent in the Pekin birds ; while 

 the latter have much less crest. 



Alauda ccelivox, Swinhoe. South-China Lark. 



Of much richer plumage than the North- China Lark, much smaller, 

 with more developed crest. 



Hab. Formosa, and from Canton to Foochow. 

 Length 6 5 j wing 3'6 ; tail 2*4 ; tarsi '9. 



Alauda intermedia, sp. nov. Shanghai Lark. 



Capt. Blakiston has brought from Shanghai two Larks, which 

 occupy a position so entirely between A. pekinensis and A. cceli- 

 vox, that it is impossible to refer them to either. They constitute 

 an intermediate race, which might by analogy be expected to 

 occur on the boundaries that divide the northern race from that of 

 the south ; and certainly, geographically speaking, the Yangtsze 

 River may be considered the dividing- Ihie of the northern area of 

 China from the southern. This bird may perhaps be regarded as a 

 hybrid form between the two species, which in this locality may be 

 supposed to meet. I could not discover any striking differences in 

 the song of the Shanghai bird from that of A. ccelivox, nor yet from 

 that of the Pekin Lark. But in size and general appearance the 

 three appear certainly distinct. 



The Shanghai species may be characterized as intermediate to A. 

 pekinensis and A. ccelivox, with proportionately longer wings than 

 either, and less crest than the latter. Its first primary quill is more 

 nearly of a length with the second than in the Pekin Lark. 



Length 6'8 ; wing 4-2 ; tail 2*8 ; tarsi '9. 



