N0.1271. REVIEW OF THE HORNED LARKS— OBERHOLSER. 847 
winter examples of actla are not so very different from spring- birds, 
while those of chrysolcona are much darker and more richly colored. 
In size, however, there seems to be quite a substantial difference, as 
may be seen by the accompanyintr measurements. The deeper yellow 
of the throat und head of eJirysola'tiia^ while not in spring and summer 
a perfectly' constant character, though, however, an excellent average 
one, is very pronounced during- the remainder of the year. The dif- 
ference in the pinkish tinge of the two races is perhaps most evident 
on the lesser and median wing-coverts and on the sides of the neck 
and breast. The foregoing remarks arc based entirely on the males. 
Autumnal females of aetia are decidedl}' paler and more rufescent on 
the upper surface than corresponding examples of chrysolcetna^ and the 
yellow of the throat and head is not so deep. From Tiibca^ with whic^h 
it intergrades in central California, actla differs in the much more 
pinkish tint of cervix, rump and ])end of wing, as well as in its more 
grayish l)ack which is usually in more or less abrupt contrast to the 
color of the nape. Some specimens, particularly fall and winter 
females, are difficult to separate from strigata^ but in such doubtful 
cases the less exient and less intensit}' of the ^^ellow on head and under 
parts, the paler, more buff'y tinge above, together with the nuich less 
blackish back, will generall}^ suffice for identification. From merrilli 
any questionable birds may be distinguished by the more rufescent or 
brownish coloration, combined with smaller size. Compared with 
Mr. Nelson's oaxacce it has usually paler yellow on the head and throat, 
and is nuich l6ss reddish on the back and cervix. It holds thus in color 
an intermediate position between chrysolcema and oaxacw., although 
the former occupies the intermediate geographic area. 
As in the other forms, the 3'oung of actia show much variation, both 
in depth of color and in the amount of ochraceous suffusion. They 
differ from the young of merrilli in paler general coloration, in the 
browner, less blackish shade of the dark areas, and in the much more 
ochraceous tint of all the lighter portions of the upper parts. 
Dr. Dwight, in his review of the North American horned larks, con- 
sidered that the birds breeding in the southwestern coast region of 
California, although occupying a disconnected area, were directly 
referable to the Mexican form, Otocorls a. chrysolcema.^ Such a con- 
dition, moreover, would not be at all surprising, for similar instances 
are not by an}' means rare in this genus. Dr. Dwight had only a few 
Mexican specimens, and these seemed to indicate the correctness of 
his conclusion; but since then there has been accumulated a large 
series in the collection of the United States Biological Survey, chiefly 
through the efforts of Mr. E. W. Nelson, which series at last renders 
it possible to separate the California bird, partly on differences men- 
tioned ))v Dr. Dwight but not by him considered diagnostic. 
'Auk, VII, 1890, p. 150. 
