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Section IV. OSCINES SCUTELLIPLANTARES. 

 Family ALAUDIM. 



Genus CERTHILAUDA. 



TJpupa apud Desfontaines, Mem. de TAcad. 1787, p. 504. 



Alauda apud Stanley in Salt's Trav. to Abyss. App. p. lx (1811). 



Certhilauda, Swainson, Zool. Journ. iii. p. 344 (1827). 



Alaemon apud Keyserling & Blasius, Wirbelth. Eur. p. xxxvi (1840). 



Thinotretes apud Gloger, Naturg. p. 266 (1842). 



Sasicola apud Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1847, p. 130. 



This section, containing the Larks, differs materially from all other sections of the Oscines in 

 having the posterior surface of the tarsus scutellate instead of plain. It may very fairly be 

 divided into eight genera, the first of which, Certhilauda, may be called more especially an 

 African group, all the species included in it belonging to the Ethiopian Region except the two 

 which range into the Western Palsearctic Region, the larger of which is found as far east in 

 Asia as Sindh. The species included in this genus are inhabitants of the desert, and are said 

 to be much more solitary in their general habits than the other Larks. They do not perch 

 much, but run with great swiftness, like the Coursers. They feed on insects of various kinds, 

 and to some extent also on seeds; their flight is short and light; their note is a somewhat 

 melancholy whistle ; and their song, which is usually uttered whilst they are on the wing, is 

 pleasing, though not varied. They are said to make a rather slight nest, which they place on 

 the ground, and deposit rather large eggs, dull white in colour, blotched and spotted with 

 brown. 



The type of the genus is Certhilauda capensis (Bodd.), which does not occur in Europe ; 

 but as Certhilauda desertorum is congeneric with it, I give its characters, as follows : — bill elon- 

 gated, curved, tapering, moderately strong ; nostrils oval, placed in the anterior portion of the 

 nasal membrane ; wings long, the first quill not much longer than the coverts, the second 

 shorter than the sixth, the third and fourth about equal and longest; tail moderately long, 

 nearly even ; legs long, rather slender, feet weak ; tarsus covered in front with seven large and 

 three inferior scutellse, and posteriorly also scutellate ; claws rather short, stout, slightly curved, 

 rather blunt. 



In the article on this species I named this bird Certhilauda desertorum; but I have since 

 ascertained that the bird described by Desfontaines (Mem. de FAcad. 1787, p. 504) under the 

 name of Upupa alaudipes, is certainly the present species, which should therefore bear the name 

 of Certhilauda alaudipes (Desf.). 



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