NO. 1271. REVIEW OF THE HORNED LARKS— OBERHOLSER. 835 
Dr. Dwight' a.s typical of the young- of this race is much more grayish 
above than any of the others we have examined. 
The northernmost records of nierrilli are Ashcroft and Kamloops, 
British Columbia, and these specimens are practically identical with 
the tj^pe. To the eastward its range includes northern and western 
Idaho. An August bird from Post Falls, Idaho, is duller and browner 
above than typical specimens, yet showing no decided approach to 
hucoliviiia. Breeding examples from Steens Mountains in southern 
Oregon have the lighter portions of the upper surface considerably 
suffused with reddish, and the back is more brownish black than 
ordinary l)irds, thus strongly resembling strigata in color, though suf- 
ticiently different in size. Birds from Fort Harney, Oregon, are quite 
similar to those from the Steens Mountains. A male from Mountain 
City, Nevada, shows an approach to leueohnma in the color above, but 
is decidedly mern'Ui. This determines the ranges of these two forms 
at this point to be less than 100 miles apart, leiicoUciua being the 
horned lark lireeding at Elko, Breeding birds from Fort Crook and 
Madelin Plains, California, are practically typical inerrlUL 
Summer specimens from the vicinity of Carson and Pyramid Lake, 
Nevada, are noticeablv paler than typical //^t/vv7//, thus being exceed- 
ingly similar io praticola., to which form Dr. Dwight has referred the 
])irds from Carson." The males are practically indistinguishable, either 
in size or color, from jjratiajla., but the females average somewhat 
paler. This difference is so slight, however, that were the birds from 
an area contiguous to the region inhabited by pratlcoJa., they would 
unhesitatingly be considered as belonging to that race; but geogi'aph- 
ically situated as they are, practically between the ranges of leucolcema 
and rix-rriUi^ it seems much more rational to consider them intermedi- 
ates between these forms, and as such to refer them to the one which 
they seem more closely to resemble. The onW alternatives are to rec- 
ognize them by name, which does not seem advisable in view of their 
practical identity with prdtieola^ or to call them 2>''ati cola ^ with expla- 
nation of the divided range thus assigned to the latter. Quite similar 
are a few ])irds from Quincy, California, though darker aV)ove, and 
with the 3'ellow on head and throat very ))right, usually also appearing 
below the black jugular patch, in one male lightly suffusing the entire 
lower surface. Very puzzling indeed are three specimens — an adult 
female in molt, with two young in first plumage — from Summit, Nevada 
County, California, all taken by Mr. Belding on August 10, 1885. 
One of the immature birds was identiffed b}^ Dr. Dwight as nurrUIi; 
the other he called strhjuta; while the female was considered by him 
to be an intermediate between merrUU and str I f/ata. The incongruity 
of these determinations is at once manifest, for the two young were 
sureW from a nest in that immediate vicinity, while the female, still pos- 
1 Auk, VII, 1890, p. 153. ^ j^jem, p. 144. 
