202 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Otocoris alpestris alpestris (Linnaeus) 

 Horned Lark 



Plate 69 



Alauda alpestris Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. 1758. Ed. 10. 1:166 

 Alauda cornuta DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 179, fig. 165 

 Otocoris alpestris alpestris A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 219. 

 No. 474 

 otdcorys, Gr., earcrest, alluding to the plumicorns; alpestris, new Lat., of the Alps 



Description. Upper parts ocherous brown and grayish brown ; 

 the scapulars, back and side of neck and head more or less tinged with 

 vinaceous; tail square, mostly black; the central tail coverts almost as long 

 as the tail feathers, colored like the back and mostly concealing the tail 

 when it is closed ; a black maxillary stripe on each side of the head from the 

 base of bill to below the ear; black ear tufts or plumicorns above the eyes 

 rising from the sides of the forehead and connected around the frontlet 

 by a blackish line; a black breast plate somewhat crescent shaped in the 

 middle of the breast ; the throat deep sulphur yellow; frontlet near the base 

 of the bill and line over the eye also decidedly tinged with yellow. Under parts 

 otherwise grayish white, tinged on the sides with vinaceous and brownish. 

 Female: Smaller and less brightly colored. 



Length 7.75 inches; wing 4-4.25; tail 2.4-2.9; bill .38-45. 



Distribution. The Horned lark inhabits the boreal region from Boothia 

 peninsula to James bay, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and winters south 

 to the Ohio valley and the Atlantic coast to Georgia. In New York it 

 is a common winter resident of Long Island and the coastal region of the 

 State in general, but in the interior and western portion of the State it 

 has not been taken in recent years to my knowledge. Thirty or 40 years 

 ago it was considered a winter resident of the lake shore region of western 

 New York, but for 15 years I have failed to secure any specimens on 

 the shores of Lake Ontario or Lake Erie although it unquestionably 

 does occur there in the winter or during the migration time in the late 

 fall. In general, however, we must say that this species is confined princi- 

 pally to the coastal districts, and that the Prairie horned lark is the sub- 

 species commonly found in the western portion of the State both in sum- 

 mer and in winter. The horned lark arrives from the north on Long 

 Island from October 20 to November 15 and is last seen in the spring 

 from the 1st to the 20th of March. 



