Genus — C HTHONICOLA. 
Chthonicola Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 
(Lond.) 1847, p. 35, May 17. Type 
( by original designation) ... ... Anthus minimus Vigors and Horsfield 
=Sylvia sagittata Latham. 
Small birds with short stout bill, round wings, long tail and medium slender 
legs and weak feet. 
The bill is shorter than the head, arched, with the tip decurved, posteriorly 
notched, laterally compressed slightly basally expanded : the nostrils appear 
as linear slits, the operculum swollen, the nasal groove nearly half the length 
of the bill ; the under mandible stout, interramal space narrow. Rictal 
bristles weak, only two in number, and no nasal bristles. 
The wing is rounded, the third, fourth, fifth and sixth primaries subequal 
and longest, the second a little shorter equal to the tenth and also the secondaries 
while the first is very short, only about half the length of the second. 
The tail is long and slightly rounded. 
The tarsus is of medium length, slender, the front booted, the hinder aspect 
bilaminate ; the toes are short and slender, the hind-toe a little stouter ; the 
outer and inner toes are equal and shorter by the length of the claw (which is 
smaller) than the middle toe and claw ; the hind claw a little longer, but hind- 
toe and claw slightly shorter than mid-toe and claw. 
When Gould named this genus he distinguished it from Anthus with which 
it obviously had little relation but did not compare it with Galamanthus which 
appears to be its real ally. 
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401 
