266 LARKS 



edged inside with dark brown ; chest brownish buffy. indistinctly streaked 

 or spotted with tawny- 



Distribution. — Europe and portions of Asia and Africa ; introduced and 

 naturalized in Oreg-on. 



Nest. — On ground in meadows or open grassy places. Eggs : o to 6, 

 buffy whitish or pale grayish brown, thickly speckled with brown. 



GENUS OTOCOmS, 



General Characters. — Crown with horn-like erectile tufts ; primaries 

 apparently only nine ; tail nearly even ; bill conoid, acute ; tarsus round 

 behind, in young- divided into plates on back ; hind claw equal to or longer 

 than its toe. nearly straight. 



KEY TO ADULT IVIALBS IN SUMMER. 



^ 



Fig. 343. 



1. Size large ; breeding north of the United States. 



2. Throat white ; south in winter to Utah . . . arcticola, p. 266. 

 2'. Throat yellowish ; south in winter to Kansas and Nevada, hoyti, p. 269. 

 r. Size smaller ; breeding in the United States. 

 2. Upper pai'ts pale grayish brown or pinkish. 



3, Upper parts exceedingly pale. Colorado desert, pallida, p. 268. 

 3'. Upper parts not exceedingly pale. 



4. Superciliary yellow. Coast of Texas. . . . giraudi, p. 268. 

 4. Superciliary white. 



5. Back darker ; size smaller. Eastern . praticola, p. 267. 

 5'. Back paler ; size larger. 



6. Pinkish of nape contrasting with back. Gi-eat Plains and 



Great Basin leucolaema, p. 267. 



6'. Pinkish of nape shading gradually into back. New Mex- 

 ico and Arizona occidentalis, p. 269. 



2'. Upper parts not pale grayish or pinkish. 

 3. Back sharply contrasting with nape. 



4. Back brownish. Southern California .... actia, p. 268. 

 4'. Back blackish. 



5. Back of neck pinkish. Plains of Columbia . merriUi, p. 268. 

 5'. Back of neck ruddy brown. 



6. Darker. Santa Barbara Islands . . insularis, p. 269. 

 6'. Lighter. Coast region, British Columbia to California. 



strigata, p. 268. 

 3'. Back not sharply contrasted with nape. 



4. Nape bright brick red. Sacramento Valley . rubea, p. 268. 

 4'. Nape pinkish. Southern Arizona adusta, p. 268. 



474a. Otocoris alpestris arcticola Oberh. Alaska Horned 

 Lakk. 



Like leucolcema but larger, with white throat, brownish streaked back, 

 and more pinkish nape. 



Distribution. — Alaska, south in winter to Oregon, Utah, and Montana. 



