366 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



larks in the remainder of the country take less than 80 percent of 

 the same class of food." McAtee continues : 



Of the vegetable matter, weed seed, which is 51.1 percent, is less than the 

 amount of the same kind of food taken by the other horned larks. The rest 

 of the vegetable food, 40.2 percent, is grain, including that from wild as well 

 as from cultivated plants. • * * 



Of the grain eaten by the horned larks of California, 31.1 percent consists 

 of oats and 9.1 percent of wheat, corn having been eaten by but one bird. 

 Oats, then, are the favorite food, and on this account the horned larks are 

 liable to damage the crop. However, a great part of the oats consumed 

 probably comes from the wild plants so abundant in all parts of the State, 

 and the destruction of these is a benefit. * * * 



The California horned larks consume only 8.56 percent of animal food [ants, 

 grasshoppers, and other insects], while the other forms collectively eat 20.61 

 percent. * * * It appears that the highest percentage of animal matter 

 is taken in June. This, however, is only 27.7 percent, not much more than 

 half the highest monthly average for the other members of the species. 



Professor Beal (1910) remarks in his summary: "In the final an- 

 alysis of the food habits of the horned lark there is but one tenable 

 ground of complaint, namely, that it does some damage to newly 

 sown grain. This can be largely remedied by harrowing in imme- 

 diately after sowing, and can be wholly prevented by drilling. The 

 bird's insect diet is practically all in its favor, and in eating weed seed 

 it confers a decided benefit on the farmer. It should be ranked as 

 one of our useful species, and protected by law and by public 

 opinion." 



OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS ENERTERA Oberholser 



MAGDALENA HORNED LARK 



HABITS 



The horned larks of central Lower California, from Santa Kosalia 

 Bay to ISIagdalena Bay, have been given the above name. Dr. Ober- 

 holser (1907) describes it as "similar to Otocoris alpestris ammophila^ 

 but smaller, the upper parts paler and more grayish, the cinnamomeous 

 of nape, upper tail-coverts, and bend of wing more pinkish. * * * 

 This new race is in color very similar to Otocoris alpestris leucolaema^ 

 but is more grayish above, at least when in good plumage; and has the 

 eyebrow usually more yellowish; furthermore, the greatly inferior 

 size of Otocoris a. enertera distinguishes it at once. From Otocoris 

 o.lpestris actia, whose range it approaches most closely, it differs very 

 much more than from either Otocoris a. ammophila or O. a. leiJKiO- 

 laema, being strikingly paler and more grayish throughout, as well 

 as somewhat smaller." 



It seems to be a resident form on open ground, locally, in the 

 Lower Sonoran Zone. Nothing seems to have been published on its 



