° I9i9 J General Notes. 571 



On December 17, 1916, I located a flock of about thirty larks feeding on 

 weed seeds in the fields east of Hamburg. Although there might have 

 been some Prairie Horned Larks (0. a. praticola) present, all the individuals 

 examined by me were undoubtedly Horned Larks. At very close range, 

 I noted the deep sulphur-yellow throat and also the yellow line over the 

 eye. I might add that I am very familiar with the resident subspecies, 

 which is one of the characteristic birds of our open country. 



On March 22, 1919, while walking across a large plowed field south of 

 Hamburg, I had the good fortune to flush a flock of at least sixty larks. 

 The individuals of this band were much wilder than Prairie Horned Larks, 

 and would take wing without apparent cause, much resembling Pipits 

 (Anthus rubescens) in this respect. I was, somewhat disappointed on 

 account of this fact, for I had not as yet been able to make the identifica- 

 tion with my glass. However, it soon developed that the birds habitually 

 wheeled about in the air and returned to near the spot from which they 

 were originally flushed. When opportunity finally presented itself for 

 work with the glass, I was both surprised and pleased to note that many 

 members of the flock had so very much yellow on the head and throat 

 that identification as 0. a. praticola was out of the question. A fairly large 

 percentage of the birds, however, were evidently duller, probably females. 



Inasmuch as I do not recall finding comparisons of the notes of the two 

 subspecies in the literature, it might be of interest to append here a few 

 remarks on the calls and songs. It seemed to me that the ordinary notes 

 uttered as Otocoris alpestris alpestris takes wing are decidedly sharper than 

 similar ones of 0. a. praticola. Several of the males were singing on March 

 22 — not the flight song, of course, but the ebullient gurgling which is 

 usually uttered from the ground in the case of the resident subspecies. 

 Although it might easily have been that only young males were singing, 

 the song of Otocoris alpestris alpestris, as I heard it, was decidedly not as 

 finished a performance as that of O. a. praticola. The initiated would 

 immediately recognize it as belonging to some form of Otocoris alpestris, 

 but it certainly lacked the smoothness of 0. a. praticola, and the notes 

 themselves were decidedly wilder. — Thomas L. Bourne, Hamburg, N. Y." 



Abnormal Beak of a Horned Lark (Otocoris alpestris praticola). — 

 While collecting on May 8, 1911, I secured a very interesting and curious 

 example of natural abnormality — an adult Horned Lark with a peculiar 

 enlargement of the lower mandible. This member, of a dull bone tint 

 (abnormal even in color), projected at least nine thirty-seconds of an inch 

 beyond the upper mandible, terminating in a very blunt tip slightly darker 

 than elsewhere. The upper mandible was also somewhat exceptional, but 

 reversed, being smaller than is usual with the species, by about two-six- 

 teenths of an inch, the normal length being approximately seven-sixteenths. 



The bird was feeding with one other on a newly cultivated field, and when 

 taken a small spherical lump of mud was frozen on the long lower mandible, 

 reminding one of the protected tip of a foil. The night before had been 



