ISLAND HORNED LARK 361 



Winter.— The dusky horned lark is present all the year round 

 in eastern Washington and Oregon. In winter immense flocks of 

 this and the pallid horned lark {arcticola), with perhaps some other 

 forms of the species, form one of the most conspicuous features in 

 the bird life of the open plains. Mr. McBee (1931) writes : 



Weed seeds and kernels of wheat are the main articles of food for the larks, 

 and while there is no snow, these are easily obtained. However, when the 

 ground is covered to some depth, the birds are forced to pick off the seeds from 

 the tumbleweeds which protrude. Soon after the snow falls it is stained in 

 the vicinity of protruding weeds by dirt and pieces of stalk which are thrown 

 off by the birds in the process of obtaining seeds. When all visible seeds have 

 been eaten, hunger forces the larks to the strawstacks, pig-pens and barns of 

 the ranches. During the heavy snow of the winter of 1929-30. the writer fed 

 the birds cracked wheat and succeeded in tolling them to within a few feet of 

 a large bay window in the ranch-house, where for two days they fed in great 

 numbers. Many interesting observations were made during that time of the 

 feeding habits of the birds. Especially amusing was the occasional display of 

 a terrible temper by the larks. A few members of the flocks were bullies of the 

 first water and absolutely refused to allow any other birds to feed on the square 

 patches of ground which were cleared for them. One especially bad tempered 

 bird succeeded in keeping for its sole use an entire feeding plot, almost three 

 feet square, for upwards of an liour. At times fifty or sixty birds would be 

 sitting around in the deep snow surrounding the feed, liungry almost to the 

 point of starvation, feet heavy with droplets of ice, but more content to sit 

 and suffer rather than brave the wrath of the terrible tempered one. Newly 

 arriving individuals, upon alighting in the cleared space, soon found the lay 

 of the land and joined their companions in the snow. 



Professor Beal (1910) makes the following tribute to the hardiness 

 of horned larks : 



The writer has met them on an open prairie when the temperature was nearly 

 30 degrees below zero, and though a fierce gale was blowing from the northwest 

 they did not exhibit the least sign of discomfort, but rose and flew against the 

 wind, then circled around and alighted on the highest and most windswept 

 place they could find. Probably they remain through the night in these bleak 

 spots, for they may frequently be seen there after sunset. Most animals seek 

 shelter from wind and cold, even though it be nothing but the leeward side of 

 a ridge or hummock, but the horned lark refuses to do even this, and by preference 

 alights on the top of the knoll where the wind cuts the worst. It seems strange 

 that in so small a body the vital heat can be maintained under such adverse 

 conditions, but if one of these birds be examined, its body will be found com- 

 pletely covered with a thick layer of fat, like the blubber on certain marine 

 animals. This indicates that horned larks have plenty to eat, and that their 

 food is largely carbonaceous. 



OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS INSULARIS Townsend 



ISLAND HORNED LARK 



HABITS 



The island horned lark is the small, dark race of the species that 

 inhabits practically all the Santa Barbara Islands off the coast of 



