556 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 164. 



to the latter. Mr. Hodgson terras it "a most interesting form, tending 

 to relieve the insulation of the Alaudince." 



Heterura, Hodgson. " Bill moderate, strong, compressed, straight, 

 but with the culmen and compressure curved, and gonys ascending ; its 

 base clad with rigid plumes as far as the advanced nares, and the tip 

 for the most part decidedly inclined and notched ; tomice scarpt and 

 trenchant : gape wide and hispid. Wing short, hardly passing the base 

 of the tail, but Alaudinem all its details ; the first and fifth quills equal, 

 and somewhat shorter than the second, third, and fourth, which are 

 longest ; centrals notched ; the tertiaries equal to the primaries. Tail 

 rigid, somewhat gradated from sides as well as centre, and the sepa- 

 rate plumes possessing the divaricate structure, with acutely wedged 

 or hastate points. Legs and feet strong, ambulant : tarse plus the 

 middle toe and nail, strongly scutellate to the front, smooth and 

 cultrated to the back. Toes medial, compresed : the laterals equal ; the 

 central sufficiently long ; the exterior basally connected to the mid 

 one ; the hind least : nails simple, fully curved. 



" Hab. Hills only. Not very gregarious : frequent trees, and breed 

 and feed on the ground." 



H. sylvana, Hodgson. " General aspect and colours Alaudine, but 

 the body below completely striped. Above brown-black, largely 

 margined with ruddy-luteous [on the sides of the feathers] : below 

 rufescent-luteous, immaculate on throat, but beyond it streaked cen- 

 trally with more or less wide blackish lines ; a dark moustache, and pale 

 brow : lateral caudals more or less albescent : legs fleshy-green ; bill 

 horn-colour, with dusky ridge. Length seven inches and a quarter to 

 seven and a half: bill eleven to twelve-sixteenths of an inch ; tail two 

 and three-quarters to two and seven-eighths ; closed wing two and seven- 

 eighths to three and one-sixteenth ; tarse under an inch ; central toe to 

 nail thirteen-sixteenths, hind ditto eleven-sixteenths ; weight an ounce." 

 Inhabits Nepal.* 



I will next briefly review the Nectariniidce, which were last taken in 

 hand in Vol. XII, pp. 969 to 984, inclusive. 



* The Coryphidea baghaira (p. 961, ante,) is identified by Mr. G. R. Gray with 

 Alaudabrachydactyla, Auct. ; and as this constitutes the type of Calandrella, Kaup, 

 the species will accordingly range as Cal. br achy dactyl a. The form is quite distinct 

 from Alauda, to which Mr. G. R. Gray refers it; as any one familiar with the living 

 bird must at once acknowledge. Mr. Gray's Indian Alaudce are in sad confusion. 



