322 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS HOYTI Bishop 

 HOYT'S HORNED LARK 

 HABITS 



Dr. Louis B. Bishop (1896) named this bird in honor of his friend, 

 William H. Hoyt, of Stamford, Conn., and described it as "similar 

 to Otocoris alpestris but with the upper parts generally paler and 

 more gray, the posterior auriculars gray rather than brown, and the 

 yellow of the head and neck replaced by white, excepting the fore- 

 head, which is dirty yellowish- white, and the throat, which is 

 distinctly yellow, most pronounced toward the center." 



The breeding range is generally understood to extend from the 

 west shore of Hudson Bay westward to the valley of the Mackenzie 

 Kiver, northward to the Arctic coast, and southward to at least Lake 

 Athabaska. Just where it intergrades with arcticola on the west, 

 or with leucolaema and praticola on the south, does not seem to be 

 definitely known. It is the central one of the three northern races, 

 occupying most of central-northern Canada. This is just where we 

 might expect to find an intermediate form. Reference to the com- 

 parative descriptions of the three races by Oberholser (1902) and 

 Ridgway (1907) will convince the reader that it is strictly inter- 

 mediate in all of its characters between the dark alpestris and the 

 pale arcticola. The wisdom of describing and naming an inter- 

 mediate race seems open to question, as it immediately produces two 

 more sets of intermediates. Such intermediate forms seem to occur 

 in regions north of Hudson Bay, such as Baffin Island and South- 

 ampton Island. J. D. Soper (1928) collected 36 specimens ,on Baffin 

 Island, of which he says : 



The great majority are typical O. a. hoyti, are as large as alpestris, but have 

 white eyebrows and much white on face and sides of neck. Five specimens 

 from Nettilling lake represent birds found associating with the typical O. a. 

 hoyti. These five, if not typical breeding alpestris, are much nearer to that 

 race than to hoyti. Amongst the specimens are several that are intermediate 

 between these extremes. A male specimen taken at Nettilling lake, June 25, 

 has a pure white instead of well-marked yellow, throat and seems indistin- 

 guishable from typical O. a. arcticola. A few other birds have white feathers 

 in mosaic pattern, over the yellow throat, suggesting a mixture of bloods rather 

 than a fortuitous development of white feathers. 



Referring to the above remarks. Dr. George M. Sutton (1932) 

 says : "I think Mr. Soper is wrong in calling 'the great majority' of 

 this series hoyti, or in referring to them as having white eyebrows 

 and white faces. In looking at these birds in an off-hand way, their 

 faces do appear to be rather pale; but when compared with the 

 Southampton breeding birds, the decidedly yellow face and heavy, 

 stubbed hill show up immediately; and furthermore, when compared 



