Plate X. Male and Female. Plate LXXX. Young.
Hind claw longer than the toe, slightly arched, and very slender.
Male, in winter plumage, with the bill dusky, the legs and claws deep
greenish-brown; upper parts greyish-olive, tinged with green, and
obscurely streaked with dusky; a whitish band over the eye, cheeks
brown; lower parts brownish-white, the throat white, the sides and
lower part of the neck, fore part of breast, and sides of body marked
with elongated, distinct, blackish-brown spots; quills and
tail-feathers dusky, margined with greenish-grey, the lateral
tail-feathers half white, the next obliquely white at the end. Female
similar. Male in summer with the bill black, the upper parts
olive-brown, tinged with grey; a greyish-white line over the eye,
cheeks greyish-brown; lower parts light yellowish-grey, the fore neck
and breast often deeply tinged with red, and marked with short,
slender, brownish-black spots, the sides streaked; quills and
tail-feathers as in winter with the pale margins less distinct. Young
more tinged with green above, the bill paler, with a great part of the
lower mandible yellowish-red, the lower parts pale yellowish-grey,
with an obscure lunule of brownish-black on the fore neck, the lower
part of which and the sides are streaked with dark brown, and tinged
with reddish-brown.
_Male_, 6-1/2, 10-1/2.
Throughout the Western and Southern Districts during autumn and
winter. Breeds in Labrador and the Fur Countries. Abundant.
Brown Lark, Alauda rufa, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. v. p. 89.
Anthus Spinoletta, Bonap. Syn. p. 90.
Brown Titlark, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p 49. Adult.
Prairie Titlark, Anthus pipiens, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 408,
Young. Brown Titlark and Prairie Titlark, v. v. p. 449.
This species is nearly allied to _Anthus aquaticus_ and _A.
pratensis_, more especially to the latter, from which it is
distinguished by having the bill much stouter, the tarsus longer, the
hind claws stouter, more curved, and much shorter, the colour of the
feet much darker, in being always much more rufous beneath, and in
sometimes, when the summer is advanced, being almost entirely
unspotted there. From _A. aquaticus_ it is at once distinguished by
the whitish band over the eye, and the white on the outer
tail-feathers. It indeed seems wonderful that any ornithologist should
have mistaken it for that species.