LARKS 267 



474b. O. a. praticola Hensh. PRAIRIE HORNED LARK. 



"Like leucolcema but darker, less ochraceous above, the superciliary 

 stripe usually without yellow." (Oberholser.) 



Distribution. Breeds from southern Canada to Pennsylvania and Kansas, 

 and from Maine to eastern Nebraska ; migrates to the Carolinas and Texas ; 

 casually west to Colorado and Arizona. 



474c. O. a. leucolaema (Coues). DESERT HORNED LARK. 



Adult male in breeding plumage. Front of crown, horn-like tufts, lores, 

 cheeks, and shield on breast black ; back of head and neck, upper tail 

 coverts, and bend of wing, pinkish cinna- 

 mon ; forehead, superciliary stripe, and ear 

 coverts white, eyebrow usually yellowish ; 

 throat yellowish white ; rest of under parts 

 white, sides and flanks shaded with cinna- 

 mon. Adult female in breeding plumage : Flg ' ^ Palhd Horned Lark " 

 like adult male, but black of head replaced by brownish and buffy ; back 

 of neck, bend of wing, and upper tail coverts, cinnamon without pinkish 

 tinge ; back of neck narrowly streaked ; superciliary and ear coverts buffy ; 

 sides and flanks streaked with dusky. Adult male in winter plumage : like 

 summer male, but upper parts more uniform, the brownish areas more 

 pinkish, on back of head and neck almost hidden by grayish tips to feath- 

 ers ; superciliary yellowish ; throat deeper yellow ; black areas obscured ; 

 breast tinged with buff and spotted with dusky ; sides and flanks darker. 

 Young : upper parts brownish, feathers with subterminal bar of brown and 

 spot or bar of white or buffy ; superciliary buffy, throat and sides of head 

 spotted. Male : length 7.50-8.00, wing 4.30-4.65, tail 2.85-3.20. Female : 

 wing 4.00-4.20, tail 2.60-2.80. 



Distribution. Great Plains and Great Basin of the United States, south 

 in winter to northern Mexico. 



Nest . On the ground, made of fine hay, lined sometimes with deer 

 hair. Eggs : 3 or 4, grayish or greenish marked variably with shades of 

 brown. 



In following the roads that lead on and on through the limitless 

 stretches of brown barren plains in the west the monotony of the 

 way is often relieved by the grateful sight of a little companion way- 

 farer with back colored to match the soil and black horns that set 

 off its delicate tints perching confidently beside the road, pattering 

 fearlessly along ahead of your horse, or feeding and singing in the field 

 as you pass. A quaint ditty theirs is, but it lends cheer and bright- 

 ness to your journey. It is rendered with great good heart, the 

 little larks springing up from the ground and singing as they hold 

 themselves on fluttering wings in the air and sunshine. In the nest- 

 ing season, they sing a rapturous love-song, sometimes flying up 

 quite out of sight and circling around in the air for several minutes, 

 stopping on poised wing for an outpouring of song. 



The larks cover so much country that they meet with varied con- 

 ditions, the northern ones encountering snow, and the Mexican ones 

 such intense desert heat that they are sometimes seen with mouths 

 open standing in rows in the shade of fence posts and weeds. 



