212 The Horned Lark 



While the young are still in the nest the mother is very secretive about 

 feeding them. She never flies to the nest when she apprehends danger, 

 but always alights at a distance, zigzags up to the nest, creeps to it, feeds 

 the young very quickly, and then steals away. The little ones in their 

 first plumage are covered with light spots. 



The Horned Larks are ground-birds. Although sometimes one 

 alights upon a stump-root, fence-post, or rail, they rarely have been 

 seen in trees. 



In October, or when the chill winds of November blow. Horned 

 Larks from the north begin to appear in the United States. They come 

 down from Labrador and the fur countries and become common along the 

 Atlantic seaboard, usually in small straggling flocks. The members of a 

 flock keep company like a hen and chickens, the old birds leading. 

 Sometimes as many as one hundred or more may consort together. 



In the East they frequent freshly .ploughed fields, marshes, mead- 

 ows, stubble-fields, and weedy places along the coast, sometimes going 

 to the higher pastures. When snow comes they search for food along 

 the shore, on bare spaces in roads, or near barns and haystacks. In 

 winter they are sometimes seen in the interior with flocks of Snowflakes. 

 In autumn and winter they are rather silent ; and when feeding they 

 keep close to the ground, where they creep about, 

 picking up seeds. They are adepts at hiding, squatting 

 low behind weeds or clumps of grass. The scattered 

 flocks fly with an undulating motion,, and when startled often rise, fly 

 ofF, and then turn about and alight near the point from which they started. 



In the West, they live in desert-valleys, on barren table-lands and 

 level prairies, and also among highlands and upon bare mountain-peaks. 



W. L. McAtee of the United States Geological Survey, in his bul- 

 letin on "The Horned Larks and Their Relation to Agriculture." states 

 that two fifths or less of their food consists of insects, and four fifths 

 of vegetable matter. The quantity of grain taken is insignificant except 

 in California, where these birds seem to be largely vegetarian. 



The Horned Larks are interesting birds. They readily adapt them- 

 selves to farm-conditions, and are distinctly beneficial to agriculture. 

 They should be protected by law at all times. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Horned Lark belongs to the order Passeres, Suborder Oscines and 

 Family Alaudidce. Its scientific name is Otocoris alpestris. The range of the 

 species includes all North America, Central and northern South America, northern 

 Asia, Europe and northern Africa. Fourteen geographical races have been named 

 as subspecies in North America alone, indicating unusual variability in this bird. 



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