Analects Ornithologica 

 Leonard Stejneger 



11. On the earliest available name of the American 

 Titlark. 



I am sorry to be obliged to claim that the appellation Anthus 

 I ludovicanus (Gm.) is more recent than Anthus pensilvanictis 

 (Lath.). 



Linnceus did not include the American Titlark in any of the 

 original editions of his 'Systema Naturee,' although it was both 

 described and figured by earlier authors, viz., G. Edwards, who 

 in his 'Gleanings of Natural History' gave on plate 397 a recog- 

 nizable figure of a 'Lark' which was sent him from Pennsylvania 

 by Mr. W. Bartram ; and upon his plate and description is based 

 Brisson's 'L'alouette de Pensylvanie' (Orn., VI, App., p. 94, 

 No. 13). The 'Red Lark,' No. 140 of the 'British Zoology,' 

 is said to be based on the same. Under the name 'Alouette aux 

 joues brunes de Pensilvanie' BufFon, in 1778 (Hist. Nat, d. Ois., 

 V, p. 58), repeated the description and quoted the plate, but also 

 described (p. 38) a specimen of the same species from Louisiana 

 as 'La Fai-louzanne.' Latham, in 1783 (Gen. Synops. of Birds, 

 Vol. II, pt. 2, p. 376), reprints these descriptions, the former as 

 '7. Louisiane Lark,' and the latter as '8. Red Lark,' besides quot- 

 ■ ing under each heading the synonyms as given above. A reprint 

 of the description of the 'Red Lark' is found in Pennant's 'Arctic 

 Zoology,' II, p. 393 (1785). So far neither of the two alleged 

 species had received any Latin name in accordance with the Lin- 

 niean binomial system (on Edward's plate, and in the text of 

 Brisson, it was, however, named Alauda fensilvanica) ; but in 

 1787 Latham gave the 'Red Lark' the binomial name Alauda 

 pensilvanica. It is the general notion that Latham did not use 

 binomials in the Linnisan sense before he employed them in his 

 'Index Ornithologicus,' published in 1790, two years after Gme- 

 lin's 'Systema Naturae' ; but in the 'Supplement to the General 

 Synopsis of Birds' (London. 1787) he gives, on p. 281 ^e^., 

 'A List of the Birds of Great Britain,' and in this list he for the 

 first time applied binomials, coining ne%v names for those which 

 had not previously received such in Linnagus's 'Systema Naturse.' 

 The new names given by Latham are printed in italics, and 

 reference is given to the descriptions in the 'Synopsis,' the 'Sup- 

 plement,' and the 'British Zoology.' On p. 387, under 'Genus 

 XXXIX,' we find, as one of "the more rare [British] Birds" : 

 '"||Red L[ark]. Synopsis, IV. p. 376. Br. Zool. I, No. 140. 

 Alauda Pensilvanica" ; and in a footnote he thus explains the 

 appearance of this species in a list of British Birds: "Now and 

 then met with in the neighbourhood of London;* but more com- 

 mon in America 



It was in 1788 that GmeHn (Syst. Nat, I, p. 173) first applied 

 the name Alauda ludoviciana to the 'Farlouzanne' of Buffon, 

 while he, on the following page, bestowed Alauda rubi-a upon 

 the 'Red Lark,' the bird of Edwards's plate. Gmelin knew 

 nothing whatever of these birds, aside from the descriptions 

 quoted above, and his diagnoses are wholly made up from them. 

 These early synonyms may be cited as follows : — 

 Alauda pensilvanica, Edw. Glean, pi. 297. 



naltiette de Pensylvanie, Briss. Orn. VI, App. p. 94, No. 13. 

 Red Lark, Penn. Brit. Zool. No. 140. 



Alouette aux joues brunes de Pensilvanie^ Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 

 V, p. 58. 



La Farlouzanne, Buff, ibid, p. 38. 

 Red Lark, Penn. Arct. Zool. II, p. 393. No. 279. 

 Louisiane Lark, Lath. Syn. II, 2. p. 376, No. 7. 

 Red Lark, Lath. ibid. p. 376, No. 8. 

 x'j^>^.— Red Lark, Alauda fensilvanica Lath. Synops. Siippl. I, p. 287. 

 1788. — Alauda ludoviciana Gmel. Sjst. Nat. I, 2, p. 793. 

 I'jSS.— Alauda rubra Gmel. ibid., p. 794. 



1847. — Anthus pensylvanicus, Thienemann, Rhea, II, (p. 171). 

 The American Titlark will therefore stand as 



Anthus pensilvanicus (Lath.) Thienem. 



Auk, I, April, 1884. p, /^7-/^^ 



* Instances of its capture in Europe of later years are not very frequent. See Dal- 

 gleish, Bull. Nutt. Orn. CI., 1880, p. 69. 



