FAM. XVII. LARKS 



157 



with white. The black mark from the bill to the eye and then 

 downward along the side neck, and the black breast patch, 

 can generally be seen, though in winter there is a veiling of 

 the black by whitish tips to the feathers. The horned larks 

 are usually found in flocks along the seacoast and in the open 

 tracts of the interior. They sing both when at rest and when 

 on the wing; they usually whistle a short note when taking 

 wing, and frequently' 

 after a short flight 

 return to the same 

 spot from which they 

 started. (Shore Xiark.) 



Length, 7| ; wing, 4^ 



(4-41) . tail, 2f ; tarsus, 



I ; culmen, h. There are 



ten named varieties of tiiis 



species in North America, 



three of which are to be Horned Lark 



found in the region covered 



by this book. The form above described ranges through northeastern 



North America, around Hudson Bay, and winters south to Illinois, the 



Carolinas, etc. The Prairie Horned Lark (474''. 0. a. praticoln) is slightly 



paler in color, somewhat smaller in size, and has less yellow about the 



head and breast, sometimes almost none, the line over the eye being white. 



It is distributed over the 

 upper Mississippi Val- 

 ley, around the Great 

 Lakes, and New Eng- 

 land, breeding mainly 

 in the northeastern por- 

 tion of New England, 

 and wintering south to 

 Texas and South Caro- 

 lina. Wing, o| - 4|. 

 The Desert Horned Lark 

 (474'=. O. a. arenicola) 

 of the Plains and west- 

 ward, and southward in 

 winter to Mexico, is a 

 paler-colored bird, but 



with the breast distinctly, often brightly, primrose-yellow. Wing, 4-41. 



The Texan Horned Lark (474<'. 0. a. giraudi) of eastern Texas has the back 



Skylark 



