LAND BIRDS. 409 



Otsego county, June 6, 1902, and has inspected a nest found March 27, 



1904, with two eggs, near the College in Ingham county, and another near 



the same place, with three eggs, March 13, 1906. Mr. 



Hazelwood, of Port Huron, states that he has taken 



the eggs in March, and Dr. Gibbs took them several 



times in April. Mr. L. Whitney Watkins took a set 



at Manchester, Jackson county, March 20, 1889, and 



L. J. Cole records a nest with four eggs taken at pj^ ,,7 



Grand Rapids, March 27, 1896. Mr. Swales found a Foot of i^ahV Homed 



set of eggs, June 19, 1895, in southeastern Michigan. ^^ " 



Mr. S. E. White states that this species is very common at Mackinac 

 Island about the middle of September, and that the Indians shoot them 

 for food under the name of "Yellow-throat." It has been generally 

 supposed that this bird was extending its range toward the east; that 

 formerly it was restricted to the Mississippi Valley, but that since 1860 

 it had overspread the eastern states, even reaching eastern Massachusetts 

 in 1903. It seems doubtful whether this is really the case. It is conceivable 

 that the species has always occurred in small numbers throughout the 

 northeastern states, but that it has passed unnoticed until recent years, 

 when the increase in the number of collectors and the more general publica- 

 tion of field notes have called attention to its presence. 



The nest is always placed on the ground, in a hollow scooped out by the 

 birds, and consists of grasses and vegetable fibres carefully interwoven 

 and sometimes quite thick and warm. The eggs are from three to five, 

 varying from olive to dirty white, thickly and finely speckled with brown. 

 They average .85 by .62 inches. 



The food of this bird is of much interest, since it has been accused of 

 injuring grain crops, both by pulling the sprouting seed and by consuming 

 the ripened grain. Thus far we have no evidence whatever in support 

 of these charges, and the examination of a large number of stomachs shows 

 that the Horned Larks are decidedly beneficial to the farmer, through the 

 consumption of such weed seeds as pigweed, bitterweed, amaranth and 

 sorrel, which they eat at all seasons of the year, while some good is done 

 also by the eating of insects, although the bird is essentially a seedeater 

 and the average amount of insects and spiders eaten during the year falls 

 a little below ten percent (Barrows, U. S. Dept. Agr. Rep., 1892, p. 197). 

 Le Baron, in 1870, recorded the fact that the Prairie Horned Lark ate cut- 

 worms as well as grain, and Professor Aughey shot one in Nebraska, June 

 16, 1875, whose stomach contained 33 small seeds and 42 locusts. We 

 may safely say, therefore, that the species is mainly granivorous, but that 

 insects are eaten more or less at all times, and, other things being equal, 

 a larger proportion of insect food is taken when it is most abundant. Nest- 

 lings appear to be fed largely on insects even at a time when such food 

 must be obtained with some difficulty. 



TEOIINIC.\L DESCRIPTION. 



Bill, hind toe and claw, ear-tufts and general pattern of coloration precisely as in the 

 typical Horned Lark just described, and with whicli the present subspecies intergrades. 

 Tlie main differences are as follows: The prairie form is decidedly smaller on the average, 

 and the upper surface somewhat paler; jiractically no yellow markings anyAvhere except 

 on throat, which is sometimes decidedly yellowish and sometimes almost white, with just 

 a perceptible tinge of yellow; forehead and line over eye grayish while to pure white, 



