196 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



that he was of the Western variety, — a 

 prairie horned lark, in other words, — for 

 even in the best of lights the throat and sides 

 of the head were white, or whitish, with no 

 perceptible tinge of yellow. 



The prairie lark is one of the birds that 

 appear to be shifting or extending their 

 breeding range. It was first described as a 

 sub-species in 1884, and has since been 

 found to be a summer resident of northern 

 Vermont and New Hampshire, and, in 

 smaller numbers, of western Massachusetts. 

 It is not impossible, expansion being the or- 

 der of the day, that some of us may live long 

 enough to see it take up its abode within 

 sight of the gilded State House dome. 



My own previous acquaintance with it had 

 been confined to the sight of a few migrants 

 along the seashore in the autumn, although 

 my companion on the present trip had seen 

 it once about a certain upland farm here in 

 Franconia. That was ten years ago, and we 

 have again: and again sought it there since, 

 without avail. 



Our bird of to-day interested me by dis- 

 playing his " horns," — curious adornments 



