PRAIRIE HORNED LARK 199 



Red-shouldered Hawk, a resonant, trumpet-like teerrand 

 a too-wheedle too-ivheedle, which suggests the creaking of 

 a wheelbarrow. When uttering these sounds from a perch, 

 Jays open the wings, and bend the head back and forth, 

 like crows when cawing. They have also, in spring, low, 

 sweet crooning notes. Many good observers believe that the 

 Jay imitates the cries of various hawks, such as the Broad- 

 winged and the Sparrow Hawk. The fact remains that 

 even where the Red-shouldered Hawk is uncommon, the 

 Jay frequently uses a note like his scream, so that it may 

 be a part of his original repertoire, and not an imitation. 



LARKS : FAMILY ALAUDID-5J 



Prairie Horned Lark. Otocoris alpestris praticola 



7.25 



Ad. — Similar to the following species but smaller, the throat 

 white, or only tinged with yellow ; the line over the eye pure white. 

 Im. — Lacks the black and yellow about the head ; breast washed 

 with brownish buff, speckled with dusky. 



Nest, on the ground. Eggs, pale olive or pale buffy, finely but 

 thickly speckled with olive-brown. 



The Prairie Horned Lark is a summer resident of north- 

 eastern New York, Berkshire County, Mass., and northern 

 Xew England. It has been found in North Adams, Wil- 

 liamstown, Lanesboro, and Pittsfield in Berkshire County, 

 at Hubbardston in Worcester County, and at Ipswich, 

 Mass., at Franconia, Errol, and Shelburne, N". H., etc. It is 

 apparently extending its range eastward, and will probably 

 become commoner, and appear in new localities. It arrives 

 in March and raises two broods, the first in April, the second 

 in June. It frequents grassy hills or intervales, and feeds 

 on the ground, walking or running. 



It is restless, and often flies about, uttering a sharp tsee 

 or tsee-de-ree. Its song is uttered either on the ground, and 



