262 



HORNED LARK 



cry, swing round, and then surprise you by set- 

 tling down again only a few yards farther away ; 

 and if you stand quietly will let you enjoy watch- 

 ing them. 



In America the Horned Larks are alone in 



the family of which 

 the famous Skylark 

 is one of the Euro- 

 pean members ; but 

 while their song is 

 wholly unpreten- 

 tious, it is quaint 

 and attractive, and 

 is often given as 

 the bird springs 

 ^ from the ground 

 toward the sky, quite 

 in the manner of the Skylark. 



The characters of the Horned Larks are dis- 

 tinct. They are protectively colored, matching 

 closely the soil where they are seen ; and in the 

 west, where they habitually run along the bright- 

 colored roads, their coloration is striking. They 

 run and walk rather than hop, and have the fur- 

 ther habit of keeping in flocks when not nesting. 

 It has been complained that the Lark eats 

 newly planted wheat and oats, but the examina- 

 tion of 59 stomachs shows that it does not do 

 any appreciable damage to grain crops, and on 

 the other hand it does great ^ood by eating weed 



Fig. 101. 

 Horned Lark. 



