Rural School Leaflet. 



1057 



1. A black patch on the breast. 



2. A black mask to and below the eye. 



3. A black crescent on each side of the crown forming the so-called 

 "horns." 



Where to look. — The Prairie Horned Lark is a bird of the open fields. 

 In the early spring, look for it in meadows, stubble fields, or fallow 

 ground. In summer, it is abundant in our gardens and along roadsides 

 where it runs along just ahead of one for a considerable distance before 

 flying. In winter look for it in open fields wherever weeds project 

 above the snow. 



1. In winter the food of the Horned Lark is chiefly the seeds' of such 

 plants as ragweed, pigweed, foxtail grass, and the like. In summer 

 this diet is varied with such insects, 

 larvffi, and grubs, especially beetles 

 and locusts, as are found about our 

 gardens. How does this benefit the 

 farmer ? 



2. Watch a pair of these birds 

 and try to find their nest. 



3. Do Horned Larks ever alight 

 in trees? 



4. Does the male sing while fly- 

 ing? What other birds do this? 



5. Does the female ever mount 

 into the sky as does the male? 



6. Does the Horned Lark hop or 

 walk? 



7. What color are the eggs? You 

 must not touch them but watch them and find out how long it takes 

 them to hatch and how long the young birds stay in the nest. 



Fig. 87. — The same nest after a snow 

 storm. The mother bird left the 

 nest only ivhen frightened by the 

 close approach of the photographer 



^'Jan. 28, 1858. Minott has a sharp ear for the note of any migratory bird. 

 Though confitned to his dooryard by rheumatism, he commonly hears them sooner 

 than the widest rambler. May be he listens all day for them, or they come and 

 sing over his house, report themselves to him, and receive their season ticket. 

 He is never at fault. If he says he heard such a bird, though sitting by his chimney 

 side, you may depend on it." — From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau 



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