252 LARKS. 



Family Alaudid^. Larks. 



The Horned Larks are the only representatives of this family found 

 in America. About one hundred species, of which the Skylark is tlie 

 best known, are found in the Old-World. 



They are terrestrial birds, generally colored in harmony with their 

 haunts, and, except during the nesting season, are usually found in 

 flocks. 



474. Otocoris alpestris* {Linn.). Horned Lark; Shore Lark. 

 Ad. $. — Forehead, line over the eye, ear region, and throat sulphur-yellow; 

 fore part of the crown, a tuft of elongated feathers on either side of the head, 

 a mark from the bill below the eye and then downward to the side of the 

 throat, and a patch on the breast black ; back of the head and neck and rump 

 vinaceous, more or less washed with grayish brown ; back grayish brown, edged 

 with brownish ash and tinged with vinaceous ; wing-coverts deep vinaceous ; 

 tail black, the outer vanes of the outer feathers margined with white, the middle 

 feathers broadly margined with brownish and vinaceous ; lower breast and belly 

 white, the former more or less soiled with dusky spots ; sides- vinaceous. Ad. 9 . 

 — Similar, but the markings, especially those of the head, less sharply defined, 

 neck less vinaceous, etc. Fall and winter specimens. — Similar, but with the 

 black markings veiled by yellowish or whitish tips to the feathers. L., 7*75 ; 

 " W., 4-27; T., 2-84; B. from N., -40" (Dwight). 



Range. — Breeds in " northern Europe, Greenland, Newfoundland, Labra- 

 dor, and Hudson Bay region ; southward in winter into eastern United States 

 to about lat. 35° " (Dwight). 



Washington, common W. V., Nov. to Mch. or Apl. Sing Sing, casual 

 W. V, Cambridge, common T. V., Oct. 25 to Nov. 25 ; Mch. 25 to Apl. 5. 



Nest., of grasses, on the ground. Eggs., three to four, pale bluish or greenish 

 white, minutely and evenly speckled with pale grayish brown, -84 x -GO. 



These hardy birds visit us in flocks in the winter. They frequent 

 the vicinity of the seacoast or large, flat, open tracts in the interior, 

 and are rarely found in well-wooded regions. They are terrestrial, 

 and may be seen running over the snow or barren ground in scattered 

 companies. They take wing with a sharp, whistled note, and seek 

 fresh fields or, hesitating, finally swing about and return to near the 

 spot from which they were flushed. They are sometimes found asso- 

 ciated with Snowflakes, and flocks may contain numbers of our resi- 

 dent Shore Lark, 0. a. praticola. 



474b. O. a. praticola Hensh. Prairie Horned Lark. — Similar 

 to the preceding species, but smaller and somewhat paler, with the forehead 

 and line over the eye white instead of yellow, the throat but slightly tinged 



* See an important paper on the relationships arid distribution of the Ameri- 

 can representatives of this genus, by Dr. J. Dwight, Jr., in The Auk, vii, 1890, 

 pp. 138-158. 



