314 BULLETIN 50; UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS GIRAUDI Henshaw. 

 TEXAS HORNED LARK. 



Similar to 0. a. praticola, but smaller, upper parts slightly grayer, 

 hindneck, lesser wing-coverts, etc., less distinctly vinaceous (more 

 grayish), back less distinctly or broadly streaked, and yellow of 

 throat usually deeper, the superciliary stripe usuall}" also more or 

 less yellowish; similar also to 0. a. diaphora but slightly smaller, 

 upper parts decidedly grayer, and hindneck much less vinaceous. 

 Adult female most like that of 0. a. praticola but decidedly smaller 

 and very much grayer (even the lesser wing-coverts scarcely if at 

 all tinged with vinaceous), and whole throat decidedly (usually deep) 

 yellow. Young similar to that of 0. a. leucolsema but darker and 

 less buffy, the general color of upper parts broccoli brown, relieved 

 by terminal dots of bufly whitish and subterminal spots, bars, or 

 streaks of dusky; much paler and grayer than that of 0. a. praticola. 

 (A frequent but not constant feature in this form is the presence of 

 more or less of pale yellow on the under parts of the body, usually 

 on the breast just below the black jugular patch, but sometimes 

 extending to the flanks, in this respect resembling 0. a. strigata of 

 the northwest coast district.) 



Adult male.— hengih (skins), 142-155 (148); wing, 92-102 (96.8); 

 tail, 56.5-66 (62.2); exposed culmen, 9.5-11 (10.5); tarsus, 20.5-22.5 

 (21.8); middle toe, 10.5-12 (11.1).« 



Advit female. —Length (skins), 144-147 (145); wing, 87-93.5 (90.2); 

 tail, 52.5-59 (55.9); exposed culmen, 10-11 (10.3); tarsus, 20.5-22.5 

 (21.4); middle toe, 10-12 (10.8).« 



Coast district of Texas, and northeastern Tamaulipas, from Gal- 

 veston Bay to just across the mouth of the Rio Grande. (Resident 

 and apparently isolated geographically, unless meeting the range of 

 0. a. diaphora in Tamaulipas.) 



(?) Otocoris alpestris (not Alauda alpestris Linnseiis) McCall, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. 



Philad., 1851, 218 (Texas). 

 Eremophila cornnta . . . (vai\ occidentalis) (not Otocoris occidentalis McCall) 



Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 48G, part (Galveston, Texas). 

 Eremophila alpestris, var. chrysolxma (not Alauda chrysolaema Wagler) IMerrill, 



Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., i, 1878, 129 (Fort Brown, Texas). 

 Eremophila alpestris chrysolaema Sennett, Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. 



Terr., iv, no. 1, 1878, 9 (Brownsville, Texas). 

 [Otocorys alpestris] (/ira^w/i" Henshaw, Auk, i, July, 1884, 260 (s. e. Texas; crit., etc.) 

 O[^tocorys] alpestris giraudi Henshaw, Auk, i, July, 1884, 263. 266 (Corpus Christi, 



Texas; coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.). 

 Otocoris alpestris giraudi American Ornithologists' Union, Check List, 1886, 



no. 474d.— Cooke, Bird Migr. Miss. Val., 1888, 156 (e. and s. e. Texas).— 



Beckham, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 1888, 668, part (Corpus Christi, Texas).— 



DwiGHT, Auk, vii, 1890, 145 (crit.).— Oberholser, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 



xxiv, 1902, 831 (monogr.). 



« Fifteen specimens. 



