THE COLUMBIAN HORNED LARK. 215 



No. 88. , 

 COLUMBIAN HORNED LARK. 



A. O. U. No. 474 i. Otocoris alpestris merrilli Dwight. 



Synonyms. — Dusky Horned Lark. jNIerrill's Horned Lark. 



Description. — Similar to O. a. strigata but somewhat larger and decidedly 

 grayer above, streaks narrower and dusky rather than black ; underparts not 

 suffused with yellowish and yellow of head, especially superciliary, not so strong 

 as in 0. a. strigata. Length (skins) 6.25, ( 159 ); wing 4.05 ( 103) ; tail 2.32 (59); 

 bill .43 fii); tarsus .85 (21.6). 



Recognition Marks. — As in |)receding; smaller, darker and more yellow 

 than O. a. ai\-ticola; larger, grayer and less yellow than O. a. strigata. 



Nesting. — Nest and eggs as in preceding. Av. size of eggs .93 x .61 (23.6 x 

 15.5). Season: April-July; two or three broods. 



General Range. — Breeding in northwestern interior district of the United 

 States from northwestern Nevada and northeastern California north thru Oregon 

 and Washington well up into British Columbia, east to Idaho ; south in winter 

 (at least) to central California. 



Range in Washington. — Common summer resident and migrant east of 

 the Cascades. Breeding birds of the high Cascades may possibly be of this form. 



Authorities. — Eremophila alpestris. Brewster, B. N. O. C. VII. Oct. 1892, 

 p. 227. ])■. Sr. D^ Ss'. Ss^ J. E. 



Specimens. — P'. Prov. E(?). 



A MODEST bird is the Columbian Horned Lark, for his home is on the 

 groimd, and he hugs its tiny shelters when disturbed, as the quite assured that 

 its brownness matches the tint of his back. If attentively pursued, he patters 

 away half trustfully, or if he takes to wing, he does so with a deprecating 

 cry of apology, as if the fault were his instead of yours. If his business keeps 

 him in the same field, he will reappear presently, picking from the ground with 

 affected nonchalance at a rod's remove, or else pausing to face you frankly 

 with those interesting feather-tufts of inqttiry, supported by black moustacliios 

 and jetty gorget on a grotmd of palest primrose. 



The unseeing class the Horned Larks among "brown birds" and miss the 

 vaulting spirit beneath the modest mien. Yet our gentle Lark is of noble blood 

 and ancient lineage. The Skylark, of peerless fame, is his own cousin: and, 

 while he cannot hope to vie with the foreign bird in song, the same poet soul 

 is in him. \Vhether in the pasture, upon the hillside, or in the desert, the com- 

 ing of spring proclaims him laureate; and the chief vocal interest of nesting- 

 time centers in the song-flight of the male Horned Lark. 



The song itself is, perhaps, nothing remarkable, a little ditty or 

 succession of sprightly syllables wdiich have no considerable resonance or 



