HORNED LARK AND LONGSPUR 



TWO RUNNERS ON SKIS 



Horned Lark 



{Fig, 42) 



E all know that the Horned Lark 

 cannot write, but if we look in the 

 right places we may sometimes see 

 his ''mark'' imprinted on the snow, 

 when we know as surely as though 

 it were written, that either a 

 Horned Lark, or Snow Bunting, or the rare Lapland 

 Longspur has been before us. All three live on the 

 ground, and all three have the long hind toe-nail 

 which belongs to walking, terrestrial birds, and is 

 quite unlike the curved, hooked hind toe-nail which 

 gives most perching birds a strong, firm grasp of the 

 limb on which they are resting. 



During the winter Horned Larks, or, as they are 

 also called, Shore Larks, live in flocks which frequent 

 broad, open fields, beaches and tidal flats. When 

 disturbed, they bound lightly into the air, uttering 



a high, thin, "tsee-tsee," and swing off to some new 



108 



