The Horned Lark 211 



They may be confused with the Pipit or the Vesper Sparrow be- 

 cause of the white outer feathers of the tail ; but the white in the tail of 

 the Titlark and Vesper Sparrow is more noticeable, and the Horned 

 Lark is much larger than either of those birds. As the bird flies over- 

 head, the black tail with its white corners contrasts with the white belly. 

 All this refers to the typical Horned Lark (Otocoris alpcstris alpestris), 

 a bird of the Northeast and Labrador; but all Horned Larks resemble 

 the type in their markings. There is a great variation, however, in the 

 shades of the plumage. 



The ordinary call-note of the Horned Lark is very similar to that 

 of the Pipit, but not so soft. Dr. C. W. Townsend writes it tssivee it, 

 tssivt a sibilant note. The flight-song of the Labrador Horned Lark 

 is described by Townsend 2nd Allen as a series of 

 squeaks and high notes, with a bit of a fine trill, the 

 bird beginning his song when high in air and ending 

 it there. The Prairie Horned Lark seems to be the best singer of 

 them all. Its common song is a sprightly little ditty, with no consider- 

 able resonance or modulation. Dawson expresses its proportions and 

 tempo by the syllables, twidge-ividgc, wigity wigy-widge^ while the words 

 t-^'idf/c, ivigity, eelooy, cclooy, idgity, eelogy e e w, serve the same pur- 

 pose for the rarer ecstasy-song, which is sometimes given on the ground, 

 but usually in air. 



The nest is built in a hollow dug in the ground or sunk in the moss, 

 and is so deeply hollowed that the back of the sitting bird comes level 

 with the surface. It is built chiefly of dried grasses, and that of the 

 Desert variety has a curious "paving" of chips, etc., about it, described 

 by Henry Mausley, in The Auk, July, 1916. The Prairie Horned Lark 

 begins her nest early in March or April, by digging a hole about three 

 inches wide and nearly as deep. This is lined to a depth of nearly an 

 inch with dry grass, and the top is usually left level with the surface. 



The eggs, from three to five, are about one inch in length and from 

 .60 to .75 inch in diameter. They are variable in color, but are 

 usually profusely and heavily marked with brownish gray or dark stone- 

 gray upon greenish bronze. When the eggs are nearing the end of the 

 incubating period, the bird sits so closely as almost to allow the intruder 

 to step upon her back. 



Audubon found the Horned Lark breeding in high and desolate 

 tracts of Labrador near the sea, on dark rocks covered 

 with mosses and lichens, where its protective coloring, tin * 



as it sat on the nest,, was quite as effective as it is 

 among the pastures of New England, or on the broad and breezy western 

 prairies. 



As the young approach maturity they outgrow the nest, and when it 

 will contain them no longer they leave it, usually several days or a week 

 before they are able to fly; after which they wander about over the 

 ground, and the parents continue to feed them for two or three weeks. 



