320 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In northern Europe the dates are rather later, from the beginning 

 of May to July in Finland. 



OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS ARCTICOLA Oberholser 



PALLID HORNED LARK 



HABITS 



This large, pale race of the horned larks is about the size of alpestris 

 alpestris, but is decidedly paler. Dr. Oberholser (1902) says of it: 

 "This for,m is one of the best marked of all of the races of Otocoris 

 alpestris^ differing from the typical subspecies in its very much paler 

 upper surface, more pinkish nape, upper tail-coverts and bend of 

 wing, as well as in the pure white of throat and eyebrow. * * * 

 This is the race to which, through misapprehension of the identity of 

 Dr. Coues' type, the name leucolaema has, by common consent, been 

 applied. Examination of the rediscovered type, however, proves it 

 to belong to another race, as fully explained under its proper heading, 

 and leaves the present subspecies without a name." 



At the time Dr. Oberholser described it, its breeding range was sup- 

 posed to be confined to Alaska, "(chiefly the interior), with the val- 

 ley of the Upper Yukon River." Since then it has been found, appar- 

 ently breeding, above timberline on several of the interior mountain 

 ranges of Alaska, and in Alpine-Arctic regions in the momitains as 

 far south as Washington. 



In the Stikine River region of southeastera Alaska and northern 

 British Columbia, Harry S. Swarth (1922) reports it as "seen in small 

 numbers on the mountain tops above Doch-da-on Creek. There, on 

 July 11 and again on July 23, they were found on the open, moss- 

 covered slopes above timber line, associated with rosy finches and 

 pipits." 



It remained for Dr. Walter P. Taylor (1925) to extend the known 

 breeding range of this lark to a point much farther south than any 

 of the localities in British Columbia from which it had previously 

 been reported. He writes : 



During field work in the State of Wasliington in 1919 we found the sub- 

 species breeding well south of the international boundary line. On August 5 

 of that year a small Horned Lark, as yet unable to fly, was captured at an 

 altitude of 7,300 feet on Panhandle Gap, Mount Rainier. The locality is well 

 above timberline, in the Alpine-Arctic Zone, and a favorite resort for Ptarmigan 

 and mountain goat. The so-called Gap is in reality a broad ridge, to the north 

 dropping off abruptly to the Sarvent Glaciers, on the south sloping gently to 

 Ohanapecosh River. Although the date of capture of the young bird (August 

 5) seems a little late, at least for localities at lesser altitudes, the season on 

 Panhandle Gap was at its height, and the ground, only recently uncovered by 

 the snow, was blanketed with grass and flowers. On being picked up the 

 young Horned Lark disgorged three locust-like insects and a small green worm. 



