210 NOTES ON CALIFORNIA ANIMALS. 



Empidonax pusillus (Svraius.)- LUth Fli/cafvlur. 



Specimens of this species were obtained in Lassen and Modoc Counties 

 by Mr. Heusbaw, who reports it as a numerous summer resident of the 

 eastern slope of the Sierras. 



Empidoiiax obscurus (Swaius.)- Wrujhl's Flycatcher. 



1 did not meet with this species myself, but it was found breedin.u" in 

 Lassen County by Mr. Henshaw, where, however, it was not common. 

 Specimens were collected at Fort Crook by Captain Feilner. 



Family ALAUDID.E. Lakks. 



Otocoris alpestris rubea lleiish. JUuWij Horned Lark. 



This jbrm of the Horned Lark is a very common inliabitant of the 

 plains and open country everywhere in Northern Calilbrnia. It was 

 found in limited numbers on the sage-covered districts north of Mount 

 Shasta in midsummer. The closely- grazed sheep pastures of the Upper 

 Sacramento Valley were alive with them in April and May, and they 

 were abundant in July on the grassy plains east of Mount Lassen. As 

 1 was not at lied Bluif in midsummer or midwinter I cannot aflirm that 

 they are always present there, but think it not nnlikely a few were 

 nesting there late in May. On May 4 1 found a most remarkable nest ot 

 eggs in all probability of this species. I had secured a number of Horned 

 Larks the same morning in a stubble-field and a nest containing one 

 egg of the n.^ual olive-white color, with minute dark spots, so charac- 

 teristic of the egg of the species, when a plowman approached with 

 a nest containing threi' eggs of similar size and i)atlern of marking, 

 but so sufliised with a rich reddish-brown as to be unrecognizable. The 

 man said they were those of a bird exactly like the Otocoris in my 

 basket. 1 ioth nests were of equal size, loosely made of grasses and weeds 

 and placed an)ong the clods and stubble. There were no other birds 

 on the entire plain but Horned Larks, and as the eggs agree with no 

 others, there is no other resort than to call them eggs of this species. 

 The measurements (in hundredths of an inch) are: of the normal egg .TG 

 by .60, and of the reddish colored set, .SI by .58, .70 by .50, .74 by .50. 



Otocoris alpestris strigata Ilnusli. i^lreaked Hormd Lark. 



This northwestern dark-colored race was abundant at IJed Llulf in 

 Decembei-, when a few specimens were obtained. 



Family CORVID.F. Chows, Jays, Ma(;pies, Ac. 



Pica pica hudsonica (Sal),). Amer'teun Maf/piv. 



This species is known to the legion chietly from specimens taken at 

 Fort Crook by Cai)tain Feilner. Its western limit is reached there, 

 for it is replaced on the op[)osite side of the Sierras by the next species. 



