252 LARKS. 



FAMILY ALAUDIDJE. LARKS. 



The Horned Larks are the only representatives of this family found 

 in America. About one hundred species, of which the Skylark is the 

 Iwst known, are found in the Old- World. 



They are terrestrial birds, generally colored in harmony with their 

 haunts, and, except during the nesting season, are usually found in 

 Hooka 



474. Otocoris alpestris* (Linn.). HORNED LARK; SHORE LARK. 

 Ad. & . Forehead, lino over the eye, ear region, and throat sulphur-yellow; 

 lore part of the crown, a tuft of elongated feathers on either side of the heud, 

 u mark from the bill below the eye and then downward to the side of the 

 throat, and a patch on the breast black ; back of the head and nock and rump 

 vinaccous, more or less washed with grayish brown ; back grayish brown, edged 

 with brownish ash and tinged with vinaceous; wing-coverts deep vinaeeous; 

 tuil black, the outer vanes of the outer feathers margined with white, the middle 

 feathers broadly margined with brownish and vinaceous;. lower breast and belly 

 white, the former more or less soiled with dusky spots ; sides vinaceous. Ad. 9 . 

 Similar, but the markings, especially those of the head, less sharply defined, 

 neck less vinaceous, etc. fall and winter specimens. Similar, but with the 

 black markings veiled by yellowish or whitish tips to the feathers. L., 7'75 ; 

 ' \V.. 4-J7 ; T., 2-84; B. from N., -40" (Dwight >. 



Raruje. Breeds in u northern Europe, Greenland, Newfoundland, Labra- 

 dor, and Hudson Bay region ; southward in winter into eastern United States 

 to about lat 35 " (D wight). 



Washington, common W. V., Nov. to Mch. or Apl. Sing Sing, casual 

 W. V. Cambridge, common T. V., <M. -'< to Nov. -j.:, ; M.-h. L>."> to Apl. 5. 



A'ett, of grasses, on the ground. /,</</.<, three to lour, pole bluish "r greenish 

 white, minutely and evenly speckled with pale grayish brown, '34 x -tiO. 



These hardy birds visit us in flocks in the winter. They frequent 

 the vicinity of the seacoast or large, Hut, open tracts in the interior, 

 and are rarely found in well-wooded regions. They are terror-trial, 

 and may be seen running over the snow or barren ground in scattered 

 companies. They take wing with a sharp, whistled note, and seek 

 fresh fields or, hesitating, finally swing about and return to near the 

 spot from whicli they were flushed. They are sometimes found asso- 

 ciated with Snowflakcs, and flocks may contain numbers of our resi- 

 dent Shore Lark, 0. a. praticola. 



474b. O. a. praticola Jfrnsfi. PRAIRIE HORNED LAKK. Similar 

 to the preceding species, but smaller and somewhat paler, with the forehead 

 and line over the eye white instead of yellow, the throat but slightly tinged 



* See an important paper on the relationships and distribution of the Ameri- 

 can representatives of this genus, by Dr. J. Dwight, Jr., in The Auk, vii, 1890, 

 pp. 138-158. 



