THE PRAIRIE HORNED LARK. 203 
Perhaps the birds from northern Ohio are reinforced from Ontario and be- 
yond. ‘Those in central Ohio are augmented very considerably by northern 
visitors of both species. 
A “feeding lot,” or field where fodder is daily dealt out to the stock, 
is a typical resort for a winter troop of Horned Larks. Here they gather 
by dozens and scores, and sometimes to the number of two or three hundred, 
and feed upon the weed seed which the cattle have threshed out with their 
hooves, or upon the undigested matter of droppings. If the observer moves 
toward a flock in the open field the birds may skulk and steal away in every 
direction, or else, having taken plaintive counsel, take suddenly to wing and 
fly off in a great straggling company. 
Taken in Colorado. 
Photo by E. R. Warren 
A WINTER TROOP OF HORNED LARKS. 
Once, during the winter of 1901-02, by the aid of a friendly rail fence 
and a convenient tree, I crept upon and studied closely a flock of two hun- 
dred Horned Larks (alpestris, a. hoyti and a. praticola). ‘They were glean- 
ing industriously near the edge of a large feeding lot a mile or so west of 
town. ‘The mercury stood at zero, and the birds had need of industry to 
keep up the inner fires. ‘Twice during my watch the entire flock was seized 
with a sense of instant danger and rose as one bird. After circling about 
once or twice they settled again, apparently reassured. I could not believe 
that I was the cause of offense, since they had already become somewhat ac- 
