ALAUDID.E — THE LARKS. 143 



taken from a young or immature lurd. Breeding south of about 40°, from 

 the Eocky Mountains to the racific coast, and throughout the table-lands of 

 Mexico, — in winter sometimes resident at the northern limit assigned, and 

 there mixed with northern-bred individuals, — is a kind wliich is smaller, 

 and, generally, with a larger bill ; the throat is deeper yellow than in the 

 northern form, the pinkish tints deepened into cinnamon, and the -frontal 

 band narrower, caused by an encroachment of the black, which, in its several 

 areas, is extended more in proportion to the other colors. This is the E. 

 chrysolcema of Wagl., and of which minor, Giraud, and rvfa, Aud., are syn- 

 onymes, as already stated. 



Along the coast of Oregon and Washington Territory is a very peculiar 

 race, represented in the collection by several specimens. These differ essen- 

 tially in having the dark streaks above very sharply defined, broad and clear 

 blackish-brown,^ while the lower parts are strongly tinged with yellow, even 

 as deeply so as the throat. Additional specimens from the northwest coast 

 may establish the existence of a race as distinct as any of those named 

 above. 



Var alpestris. 



Alauda alpestris, Linn. S. N. I, 289. — Forst. PliiL Trans. LXII, 1772, 383. — Wil.son, 



— Aud. — Jard. — Maynaiid, B. E. Mass. 1870, 121. Olocorijs a. Finhch, ALh. 

 Nat. 1870, 341 (synoiioiiiy and remarks). Alauda cornuta, WiLS. Am. Orn. I, 1808, 

 85. — KiCH. F. B. A. IL Eremophila c. Boie, Isis, 1828, 322. — Baird, Birds N. 

 Am. 1858, 403. — Lord, P. E. A. List. IV, 118 (British Col.). — Cooper & Suckley, 

 Xn, 195. — Call & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ao. I, 1869, 218 (Alaska). — Cooper, Orn. 

 CaL \, 1870, 251. — Samuels, 280. PMleremos c. Bonap. List, 1838. Otocoris c. 

 AucT. Otocoris occidcntalis, McCall, Pr. A. N. Se. V, June, 1851, 218 (Santa Fe). 



— Baird, Stansbury's Rep., 1852, 318. 



Char. Adult. Frontal wliitish crescent more than half as broad as the black 

 patch behind it. Throat and forehead either tinged, more or less strongly, -with yellow, 

 or perfectly white. Pinkish tint above, a soft ashy-vinaceous. 



Measurements. (56,583 ^, North Europe,) wing, 4.40; tail, 2.90 ; culmen, .60; width 

 of white frontal crescent, .25; of black, .30. (3,780 ^, Wisconsin,) wing, 4.20; tail, 

 3.00; culmen, .60; width of white frontal crescent, .30; of black, .26. (16,768 ^, 

 Hudson's Bay Ter.,) wing, 4.55 ; tail, 3.10; culmen, .65 ; width of white frontal crescent, 

 .35; of black, .36. (8,491 ^, Fort Ma.ssachusetts,) wing, 4.35; tail, 3.15; culmen, .61; 

 width of white frontal crescent, .27 ; of black, 27. (The three perfectly identical in 

 colors.) 



Young. On the upper parts the blackish greatly in excess of the whitish markings. 

 Spots across jugulum distinct. 



Hab. Northern Hemisphere ; in North America, breeding in the Arctic regions and 

 the open plains of the interior regions, from Illinois, Wisconsin, etc., to the Pacific, north 

 of about 38°. 



^ A specimen from Cleveland, Ohio (7, 429 9 » April 1, Dr. Kirtland), and one from Washing- 

 ton, D. C. (28, 246 (J, Feb.), have nearly as distinct streaks above, but the white of lower parts is 

 without any tinge of yellow. 



