Desert Horned Lark 279 



Family ALAUDID-^. 



Characters of the single genus. 



Genus OTOCORIS. 



Bill stout, somewhat conical ; nostrils circular, completely concealed 

 by stiff feathers directed forwards ; primaries nine, the tenth (outer) 

 not obvious ; tail nearly square ; tarsus rounded in front and behind, 

 and covered both anteriorly and posteriorly with scutes ; claws of 

 front toes shghtly curved, that of hind toe straight and exceeding its 

 digit in length ; head not crested, but with a little erectile, elongated 

 feather-tuft on either side. 



This genus is spread over nearly all of North America and extends 

 south to Colombia ; also over Europe, Asia and northern Africa. 



The Horned Larks are remarkable for the great amount of variation 

 which they have undergone throughout their range ; these variations 

 are not very marked, and as a rule are connected by intermediate forms. 

 Mr. Oberholser, the most recent monographer of the genus, recognizes 

 no less than thirty-six forms, of which only six, in his opinion, are 

 worthy of specific separation. All the American forms are included 

 in one species, Otocoris alpestris (Linn.). 



The Horned Larks of Colorado were by Henshaw (84) supposed 

 to be referable to two subspecies — (o) a large pale form with a white 

 throat (0. leucolcema of Henshaw = 0.arc<tcoZa of Obersholser), breeding 

 in Alaska and wintering in the north-western United States; and (b) 

 a smaller resident form (0. arenicola of Henshaw = 0. leucolcema of Coues 

 and Oberholser) with a distinct yellow throat. A further examination 

 of material however leads to the conclusion, that there is only one form 

 commonly met with in Colorado, and this is a resident throughout the 

 year. Oberholser is of opinion that a subspecies (0. alpestris enthymia), 

 described by him as breeding from the British province of Saskatchewan 

 to North Dakota, comes south in winter to northern Colorado. I have 

 not examined examples of this form. 



Desert Homed Lark. Otocoris alpestris leucolcema. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 474c — Colorado Records — Baird 1858, p. 403 

 {Eremophila cornuta) ; Allen 72, pp. 149, 156 {Eremophila alpestris) ; 

 Aiken 72, p. 202 ; Trippe 74, p. 231 (E. a. chrysolcema) ; Henshaw 75, 

 p. 309 ; Scott 79, p. 92 ; Drew 81, p. 78 ; 85 p. 16 ; Tresz 81, p. 39 ; 

 Allen & Brewster 83, p. 193 ; Henshaw 84, p. 254 (0. a. arenicola) ; 

 W. G. Smith 84, p. 95 ; Beckham 85, p. 142 ; Morrison 89, p. 147 ; 

 Dwight 90, p. 146 ; Kellogg 90, p. 88 ; Miller 94, p. 32 ; Lowe 95, p. 170 ; 

 Cooke 97, pp. 89, 163, 209 ; Oberholser 02, p. 820 ; Keyser 02, pp. 84, 



