454 ALAUDIDA. 
wood-brown, spotted with dark brown; belly and under 
tail-coverts pale yellowish white, tinged with brown on 
the thighs and flanks; the legs, toes, and claws, brown ; 
the middle toe rather long; the claw of the hind toe very 
long, straight at the base and for half its length, then 
slightly curved. 
The whole length of an adult male seven inches and a 
quarter. From the carpal joint to the end of the wing 
four inches and a half; the first feather short, the second 
shorter than the third, which is the longest in the wing. 
The female is a little smaller than the male, and rather 
darker im colour. 
Broad edgings to the great wing-coverts, and a black 
spot with a white tip at the lanceolate ends of the smaller 
coverts, bespeak the young bird; these markings are lost 
at the first moult, which begins in August. 
The vignette below represents the breast-bone and the 
foot of the Sky Lark of the natural size. 
