338 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Otocoris alpestris (Linn.) 



SHORE LARK. 



Popular synonyms. Snow Lark; Snowbird; Prairie Lark; Skylark; American Skylark; 

 Horned Lark. 



Alauda alpestris LINN. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 16C. 

 Otocoris alpestris BP. Fauna Ital. Ucc. Introd. 1839 (not paged). HENSHAW, Auk, 



July, 1884, 257, 263. 

 Eremophila alpestris BOIE, Isis. 1828,322. CouES,Key,1872,89; Check List, 1874, No. 53; 



2d Check List, 1882, No. 82; 2d Key, 1884, 281 (part). RIDGW. Nora. N. Am. B. 1881, 



No. 300 (part). 



Eremophila alpestris var. alpestris B. B. R. Hist. N. Am. B. ii, 1874, 143. 

 Eremophila alpestris a. alpestris COUES, B. N. W. 1874, 37. 



Alauda cornuta WILS. Am. Orn. i.lSOS, 87 (in text). Sw. & RICH. F. B.-A. ii,1831,121. 

 Eremophila cornuta BOIE, Isis, 1828, 322. BAIED, B. N. Am. 1858, 403; Cat. N. Am. B. 



1859, No. 302. 



This larger, darker colored form of the Shore Lark is an irregu- 

 lar winter visitant, sometimes, however, occurring in large flocks. 

 Its habits are identical with those of the resident race. 



Otocoris alpestris praticola (Hensh.) 



PRAIRIE LARK. 



Popular synonyms. (Same as those of alpestris proper.) 



Eremophila alpestris AUCT., ex-parte (nee BOIE). 



Otocoris alpestris praticola HENSHAW, Auk, i. No. 3, July,18S4,3C4. 







HAB. Mississippi Valley and region of the Great Lakes, breeding, and resident, east 

 to western New York. 



SUBSP. CHAE. Adult male in spring (No. 90763, U. S. Nat. Mus., Richland Co., 111., 

 May 16, 1883; R. Ridgway): Posterior portion of crown, occiput, nape, sides of neck and 

 breast, lesser wing-coverts, and shorter upper tail-coverts, light vinaceous; back, scapu- 

 lars, and rump, grayish brown, the feathers with, darker centres, becoming darker and 

 much more distinct on the rump; middle wing-coverts light vinaceous terminally, 

 brownish gray basally. Wings (except as described) grayish brown, the feathers with 

 paler edges; outer primary with outer web chiefly white. Middle pair of tail-feathers 

 light brown (paler on edges), the central portion (longitudinally) much darker, approach- 

 ing dusky; remaining tail-feathers uniform black, the outer pair with exterior web 

 broadly edged with white. Longer upper tail-coverts light brown, edged with whitish 

 and marked with a broad lanceolate streak of dusky. Forehead (for about .15 of an inch) 

 yellowish white, this continued back in a broad superciliary stripe of nearly pure 

 white; fore part of crown (for about .35 of an inch) deep black, continued laterally back 

 to and including the ear-like tufts; loi-es, suborbital region, and broad patch on cheeks 

 (\\iili convex posterior outline) deep black; jugular crescent also deep black, this extend- 

 ing to the lower part of throat; chin and throat pale straw-yellow, gradually fading into 

 white on sides of foreneck; anterior half of ear-coverts white, posterior half drab-gray, 

 each portion forming a crescent- shaped patch. Lower parts pos1eri<>r to the jugular 

 crescent pure white, the sides of the breast light vinaceous, the sides similar but browner 

 and indistinctly streaked with darker. Upper mandible plumbeous black, lower bluish 

 plumbeous; iris deep brown; legs and feet brownish black. Wing,4.30; tail,2.85; culmen, 

 .47; tarsus,. 85. 



