NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 253 



Arizona, which lacks the exterior coating of lichens.* Others were 

 found by Mr. Stephens of a similar construction. 



The usual number of eggs is three ; the ground-color is a rich 

 creamy- white, with a ring of large brown and lilac blotches at the larger 

 end. Dr. Merrill gives the average size of fourteen eggs as .73 x .54. 

 A set of three eggs in Mr. Norris' cabinet was taken in Cochise county, 

 Arizona, May 21, 1888. The nest was placed in a sycamore tree near 

 a running stream. The eggs are pale creamy-buff, with bold spots and 

 blotches of seal-brown and lilac-gray, in a circle around the center of 

 each egg. They measure, respectively, .7ix.53, .69X.53, . Sox. 53. 

 Six other sets in the same cabinet show great variation. 



[473.] Alauda arvensis LINN. [299.] 



Skylark. 



Hab. Europe and portions of Asia and Africa; accidental in the Bermudas and in Greenland. 



The far-famed Skylark of the Old World holds a place in the avi- 

 fauna of North America from its occasional occurrence in the Bermu- 

 das, and in Greenland. Several attempts have been made to introduce 

 these desirable birds in Eastern United States, but so far the experi- 

 ments have proved unsuccessful. The Skylark is an inhabitant of all 

 the countries of Europe, and is said to be more plentiful in cultivated 

 districts. The mating season is in April, and two broods are reared in a 

 season. The nest is always placed on the ground, in meadows or open 

 grassy places ; it is often sheltered by a tuft of grass, clod of earth, or 

 other projection. The materials used in its composition are grasses, 

 plant stems, and a few chance leaves ; the lining is of the same, but 

 finer. 



The eggs are three, four or five in number, and vary considerably 

 in form and coloration ; some are grayish-white with a tinge of purple 

 or greenish-white, thickly sprinkled and mottled with a grayish-brown 

 or drab ; others are of a deep sombre hue, and in some the markings 

 are chiefly concentrated at the larger end. These are the variations 

 exhibited in four sets of four eggs each in my cabinet, taken in Staf- 

 fordshire, England, in the latter part of April and the first of May. 

 The smallest set offers the following sizes: .86x. 57, .87x.6o, .84 x. 58, 

 .89x.6o; the largest, .93X.64, .95 x .64, -92X.62, -94X.64, respectively. 



474. Otocoris alpestris (LINN.) [300.] 



Horned Lark. 



Hab. Northeastern North America Labrador, region about Hudson Bay, Greenland, and northern 

 parts of the Old World ; in winter south in Eastern United States to the Carolinas, Illinois, etc. 



The Shore Lark, the true alpestris, breeds in northeastern North 

 America and Greenland, wintering in the United States. Said to 



*Bull. Nutt. Ornith, Club. VII, 207. 



