In young birds in fresh plumage the feathers of the back are rounded at the tips and fringed with ochraceous-buff, and the spots on the chest are larger.
The Philippine bush lark is very abundant in the vicinity of Manila and great numbers have been noted in the markets in baskets with the equally common Formosan skylark.
Family FRINGILLIDÆ.
Bill conical (except in Loxia where the mandibles are crossed); commissure, or cutting edges of bill, angulated;[93] nostrils basal and near the culmen, often hidden by antrorse feathers; rictal bristles moderate in length; wings well developed with only nine primaries; rectrices twelve, tail square or slightly forked; tarsus scutellate in front, covered on each side by a single plate, and with a sharp ridge behind.
Genera.
- a1. Mandibles falcate; the tips crossed Loxia (p. [676])
- a2. Mandibles not falcate; the tips
not crossed; culmen and gonys straight or but little curved.
- b1. Bill blunt and very stout, its width at nostril equal to bill from nostril. Pyrrhula (p. [677])
- b2. Bill sharp and slender, or only
moderately stout, its width at nostril much less than bill from
nostril.
- c1. Culmen and gonys gently curved; tail nearly square; top of head liver-brown; a large black patch on chin and throat; no yellow in the plumage Passer (p. [680])
- c2. Culmen and gonys nearly straight;
tail slightly forked; plumage more or less yellow.
- d1. Gonys relatively long, being about twice as long as its ramus.
- d2. Gonys relatively short, being less than twice as long as its ramus. Emberiza (p. [682])
Genus LOXIA Linnæus, 1758.
Bill compressed, the tips crossed; both culmen and gonys strongly curved; wings covering about half the tail. Adult male almost entirely red, adult female partly yellow, and young of both sexes heavily streaked.