120 ITALIAN SKYLARK. 



GRANIVORJE. 



Family ALATJDID2E. 



Genus Alauda. (Linnctus.) 



ITALIAN SKYLARK. 



Alauda cantarella. 



Alauda cantarella, Bonaparte; List et Icon, de Faun. Ital. 



Revue, p. 75. 

 Keyserling et Blasius; Wirbelt., p. 37. 

 " Schlegel; Revue, 75. 



'■ intermedia, Swinhoe. 



" italica? Gmelin. 



Specific Characters. — Ground colouring of back white, tinged with rufous, 

 and distinctly contrasted with the long brownish black longitudinal markings; 

 throat pure white; markings on the back clear and distinct. Length six 

 inches; beak half an inch. 



This is a smaller form of the English Skylark, which replaces our 

 bird on the sunny plains of Italy. That it is a race of A. arvensis 

 there is no doubt, and as such, and not as a distinct species, it is 

 introduced into this work. It was first observed and described by 

 Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, in his introduction to the Fauna 

 of Italy, p. 5, and is entered in the "Conspectus Genera Avium" 

 as probably the bird named italica by Gmelin, which, if correct, 

 gives its distinctive character a long history, and justifies my name 

 of Italian Skylark. It is also entered in the "Comparative List 

 of European and American Birds," at No. 249, as Alauda cantarella, 

 Nobis. How then Alauda cantarella, Bonaparte, can be considered 

 a myth, as it is by Mr. Dresser in his "Birds of Europe," or upon 

 what plea its name is to be changed into Mr. Swinhoe's A. intermedia 



