ISLAND HORNED LARK 363 



abundant here, are said to build their nests in these plants. On the 

 hills and the open grassy parts of the plateau, the island horned larks 

 were very common but apparently not yet nesting ; at least we found 

 no nests. 



Nesting. — There are two interesting nests of the island horned 

 lark, preserved with the surrounding vegetation, in the Thayer col- 

 lection in Cambridge. They were collected by C. B. Linton on San 

 Nicolas Island on May 12 and 14, 1910, and are accompanied by 

 photographs. The first nest contained three eggs and was sunk into 

 the sand under a thick patch of iceplant that was growing in a dense 

 mass on the sloping side of a ravine and only about 50 feet from the 

 ocean. The nest was made of fine grasses and weeds and was pro- 

 fusely lined with white feathers, apparently gull feathers. The pale 

 eggs in the white nest, framed by the pale gray foliage of the ice- 

 j)lant, make a harmonious picture. The second nest, containing four 

 eggs, was placed among a more scattered growth of iceplant on a 

 sandy slope; it was made of very fine grass and bits of iceplant 

 but contained no feathers. 



Another nest in the same collection was taken by O. W. Howard on 

 San Clemente Island on April 4, 1905; this nest, containing four 

 eggs, was located near the summit of the island near a cattle trail; 

 it was compactly made of various coarse and fine weed stalks, fine 

 grasses, lichens, bits of wool, and plant down and was lined with finer 

 bits of the same materials. 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1897) found a nest on San Clemente Island 

 on June 3, 1897, that "was on the ground in a depression under the 

 broad, obliquely-inclined leaf of a cactus. It was thus well-protected, 

 as no fox could reach the contents without encountering the stiff 

 spines." 



Major Bendire (1895) states that H. W. Henshaw found a nest on 

 Santa Cruz Island on June 4, 1875, that was "placed within the cavity 

 of an abalone shell, one of a large heap lying half overgrown with 

 herbage. The whole cavity of the shell was filled by the material, 

 and the eggs looked very pretty as they lay contrasted with the shiny 

 pearly shells clustered about them." 



Eggs. — The island horned lark lays three or four eggs, which are 

 practically indistinguishable from those of the other western horned 

 larks of similar size. What few I have seen are of the finely speckled 

 pale type, but tliey probably show all the variations seen in eggs 

 of the streaked horned lark and the California races. The measure- 

 ments of 28 eggs average 20.7 by 15.7 millimeters; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 22.3 by 16.0, 20.9 by 16.2, 18.8 by 15.2, and 

 19.8 by 15.1 millimeters. 



The sequence of molts and plumages, feeding habits, and general 

 behavior are apparently similar to those of the neighboring main- 



