324 Bird - Lore 



flight or by their whistled notes, for both resemble those of the American 

 Pipit, or Titlark ; but he may know them when they are on the 

 Identify It ground by their pinkish brown color, their thick-set, square- 



shouldered look, their mouse-like movements, and the distinct 

 black and yellow, or yellowish white, markings shown by the male bird on 

 the side of the head. The black and yellow of the breast and neck are not so 

 conspicuous when the bird is feeding, unless it is seen from the front. 



The color and markings distinguish them readily from the Snow Bunting. 

 They may be confused with the Pipit or the Vesper Sparrow because of the 

 ^'hite outer feathers of the tail; but the white in the tail of the Titlark and 

 Vesper Sparrow is more noticeable, and the Horned Lark is much larger than 

 either of those birds. As the bird flies overhead, the black tail with its white cor- 

 ners contrasts with the white belly. All this refers to the typical Horned Lark 

 {Otocoris alpestris alpestris), a bird of the northeast and Labrador; but all 

 Horned Larks resemble the type in their markings. There is a great variation, 

 however, in the shades of the plumage. It is rarely that two look exactly alike. 

 The birds of the dry plains and deserts, as a rule, are paler than the eastern 

 form, and many of the birds seen are not typical of any form, but intergrade 

 between one and another. Nevertheless, they are all plainly Horned Larks. 



The ordinary call-note of the Horned Lark is very simflar to that of the 

 Pipit, but not so soft. Dr. C. W. Townsend writes it tsswee it, tsswt, — a sibilant 

 note. The flight song of the Labrador Horned Lark is described by Townsend 

 and Allen as a series of squeaks and high notes, with a bit of a fine trill, the 

 bird beginning his song when high in air and ending it there. The Prairie 

 Horned Lark seems to be the best singer of them all. Its common song is a 

 sprightly little ditty, with no considerable resonance or modulation. Dawson 

 expresses its proportion and tempo by the syllables, twidge-widgc, ■wigity 

 wigy-widge, while the words fwidge, wigity, eelooy eelooy idgity, eelogy e e w, 

 serve the same purpose for the rarer ecstasy song, which is sometimes given 

 on the ground, but usually in air. 



„ The nest is built in a hollow dug in the ground or sunk in 



Nest, Eggs . 6 6 



and Young ^^^ moss, and IS so deeply hollowed that the back of the sittmg 

 bird comes level with the surface. It is built chiefly of dried 

 grasses. The Prairie Horned Lark begins her nest early in March or April, 

 by digging a hole about three inches wide and nearly as deep. This is lined 

 to a depth^ ^f nearly an inch with dry grass, and the top is usually left level 

 with the surface, although it sometimes projects above. 



The eggs, from three to five, are about one inch in length and from .60 to 

 .75 inch in diameter. They are very variable in color, but are usually pro- 

 fusely and heavily marked with brownish gray or dark stone gray upon green- 

 ish bronze. When the eggs are nearing the end of the incubating period, the 

 bird sits so closely as almost to allow the intruder to step upon her back. 



Audubon found the Horned Lark breeding in high and desolate tracts 



