804 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. voi..xxiv. 
forms are represented, and there are undouljtedly several additional 
races in Asia yet to be elucidated, to which may apply some of the 
names here, through lack of material, relegated to synonymy. 
As in many other groups, there are cases in the horned larks where 
the type specimen of a descri))ed form does not represent the extreme 
development, and in fact is even an intermediate. Our treatment of 
all such cases is to refer the type to the form it most closely approaches, 
specimens from the region in which is shown the greatest degree of 
diflerence being arbitrarily considered as typical in such comparisons. 
Although the horned larks permit of almost infinite division, and the 
number of American races here admitted might easily be doubled, it 
has not been deemed advisable formally to separate any that do not 
present characters at least as good as those of forms heretofore 
current. 
In the systematic treatment which follows there are recognized alto- 
gether 3^) forms of Otocorts, of which all but 6 have subspecitic rank, 
while 2 of the may ultimately have to be reduced to this position. 
Of the total numbei- 22 are from the American continent, the remain- 
ing l-t belonging to the Old World. They are here placed in what 
seems to be their natural rehitionship, ])ut it is manifest that in a group 
like the horned larks, in which a form may be equally related to sev- 
eral others, an>' entirel}' satisfactory linear sequence is entirely out of 
the question. Eijually difficult is the preparation of a satisfactory key, 
and although the one here presented has Ijcen prepared with care, it is 
confessedly ])ut little more than a tabular exposition of the more salient 
characters. On the accompanying maps the lines have ))een drawn to 
indicate as closely as possible the distribution of the various forms, 
but in many cases where the exact limits of range are unknown the 
probable extent is of course subject to revision. 
The more important of the recent articles on the genus Otocorls are 
as follows: 
FiNscH, Otocoriy, Abliandl. Nat. Ver. zu Bremen, 1870, pp. 341-352. 
Dresser, Genus Otocorys, in Birds of Europe, IV, 1874, pp. 385-402. 
Dubois, Remarques snr les Alouettes du Genre Otocori/s, Bulletin du Mus(5e Royal 
d'llistoire Naturelle de Belgicjue, III, 1884, pp. 223-230. 
He.vshaw, The Shore Larks of the United States and Adjacent Territory, Auk, I, 
July, 1884, pp. 254-268. 
RiDciWAY, Genus Otomrix Bonajtarte, in Manual of North American Birds, 1st ed., 
1887, pp. 347-349, ])1. xcvi, tig. 2. 
DwiGHT, The Horned Larks of North America, Auk, VII, April, 1890, pp. 138-158, 
map. 
Sharpe, Otocorys, in Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, XIII, 1890, pp. 
528-550; 670-671. 
RiDGWAY, Genus Olocoris Bonaparte, in Manual of North American Birds, 2d ed., 
1896, pp. 347-349; 599, pi. .xcvi, tig. 2. 
The results embodied in the present revision have been based pri- 
marily on the collection of the U. S. National Museum, including that 
