RUDDY HORNED LARK 367 



habits, wliicli probably do not differ from those of other southwestern 

 subspecies of the horned lark. There is a set of three eggs in the 

 Doe collection, taken by J. S. Rowley near Rosalia Bay, Lower Cali- 

 fornia, on April 23, 1933; these measure 22.8 by 16.5, 22.3 by 15.8, and 

 21.9 by 15.6 millimeters. 



OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS RUBEA Henshaw 



RUDDY HORNED LARK 



HABITS 



Dr. H. C. Oberholser (1902) says of the restricted range of the 

 rudd}^ horned lark: "The present race seems to be strictly resident, 

 occupying a comparatively circumscribed area in the region drained 

 by the Sacramento River, passing south into actia at about the latitude 

 of San Francisco, and northeastward into merriTliP 



This subspecies is described by Ridgway (1907) as "most like O. a. 

 actiu, but much more rufescent, the occiput, hindneck, shorter upper 

 tail-coverts, lesser wing-coverts, and sides of breast deep chestnut- 

 vinaceous or dark vinaceous-rufous, the back decidedly brown, broadly 

 streaked with darker. Adult female most like that of O. a. oaxacae^ 

 but darker and browner above, with hindneck distinctly rufescent; 

 similar also to that of O. a. alpestris, but much smaller, back browner 

 with spots less dark, and hindneck and sides of breast more rufescent." 



Dr. Oberholser (1902) says of it: "This form is easily distinguish- 

 able from all the other horned larks by the peculiar color of the 

 occiput and cervix, which is bright brick red with very little tinge 

 of pinkish, particularly in summer; the remainder of the upper 

 surface is much suffused with the same shade, further differentiating 

 rubea from both insuJarls and strigata^ which races in other respects 

 it closely resembles." 



Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) say of the haunts of the 

 ruddy horned lark in the Lassen Peak region : "The main habitat 

 chosen by this race of horned lark within our section was the rocky 

 mesa just above and bordering the Sacramento Valley on the east 

 side [their cut shows a level grassy plain, with numerous rocks 

 scattered over it]. Whenever visits were made to this 'waste' mesa 

 land, in April, May, June, or December, this bird was conspicuous 

 for its large numbei-s and for being almost the only one to live on 

 that rocky type of ground. In winter the compact flocks would 

 start up when disturbed and would fly so near the ground, below 

 the horizon line, as to be nearly indistinguishable against the back- 

 ground of ruddy-hued earth and rocks." 



I can find nothing peculiar mentioned on the nesting or other hab- 

 its of the ruddy horned lark, which are apparently similar to those 

 of the closely related California horned lark. The eggs are also sim- 



