334 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



bottom-lands a few miles south of Columbus on February 18, 1928. The largest 

 number recorded in a single day was that of an estimated 2000 individuals, the 

 combined number of several flocks which were encountered along a three mile 

 stretch of road immediately south of Buckeye Lake on February 14, 1929. 

 During the month of March there is a rapid decline in numbers. 



Severe winter weather or cold storms, especially snowstorms, some- 

 times drive these northern larks as far south as North Carolina or 

 even South Carolina, where they seek their food in the shelter of bare 

 furrows or in the lee of tufts of grass in the fields. Wlien the ground 

 is covered with snow they manage to find food by scratching little 

 hollows in the snow, or they resort to the barnyards to pick up hay- 

 seed and waste grain. Probably most of the horned larks seen in the 

 Southern States in winter are of the prairie subspecies. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Circumpolar; from the Arctic coast of both hemispheres 

 south to northern Africa and South America. 



Breeding range. — The North American breeding range extends 

 north to Alaska (St. Michael and Fort Yukon) ; Yukon (Herschel 

 Island) ; and the Northwest Territories (Liverpool Bay, Horton 

 River, Kent Peninsula, Cape Fullerton, Bowman Bay, and Resolu- 

 tion Island) . East to the eastern part of the Northwest Territories 

 (Resolution Island) ; extreme northeastern Quebec (Button Islands 

 and Cape Chidley) ; Labrador (Okak, Davis Inlet, and Rigolet) ; 

 eastern Quebec (Battle Harbor, Cape Charles, and Loup Bay) ; New- 

 foundland (Canada Bay and Cape St. Mary) ; New Brunswick 

 (Scotch Lake) ; Maine (Eustis and Waterville) ; rarely eastern Massa- 

 chusetts (Essex County, Plymouth, Barnstable, and Nantucket 

 Island) ; rarely western New Jersey (Mount Holly and probably 

 Gloucester and Salem Counties) ; rarely the District of Columbia 

 (Washington) ; central Virginia (Lynchburg and Naruna) ; western 

 Tennessee (Nashville) ; eastern Arkansas (Helena) ; eastern Texas 

 (Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville) ; Tamaulipas (Miqui- 

 huana) ; Hidalgo (Real del Monte) ; Veracruz (Mirador and Perote) ; 

 and eastern Oaxaca (San Mateo). South to southern Oaxaca (San 

 Mateo, Oaxaca, and Mitla) ; Mexico (Valley of Mexico) ; Guanajuato 

 (Silao) ; Durango (Durango) ; and central Baja CalifoiTiia (Santa 

 Rosalia Bay and San Ignacio Lagoon). West to Baja California 

 (San Ignacio Lagoon and San Quintin) ; California (San Clemente 

 Island, San Miguel Island, Santa Cruz, and Red Bluff) ; Oregon (Fort 

 Klamath and Wapinitia) ; western Washington (Seattle and Tacoma) ; 

 British Columbia (Spence Bridge, Chilcotin, 15(>-mile House, and 

 Wilson Creek) ; and Alaska (Kenai Mountains and St. Michael). 



Tlie range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been 

 separated into no less than 16 currently recognized subspecies or 



