262 



HORNED LARK 



cry, swing round, and then surprise you by set- 

 tling down again only a few yards farther away ; 

 and if you stand quietly will let you enjoy watch- 

 ing them. 



In America the Horned Larks are alone in 



the family of which 

 the famous Skylark 

 is one of the Euro- 

 pean members ; but 

 while their song is 

 wholly unpreten- 

 tious, it is quaint 

 and attractive, and 

 is often given as 

 the bird springs 

 from the ground 

 toward the sky, quite 

 in the manner of the Skylark. 



The characters of the Horned Larks are dis- 

 tinct. They are protectively colored, matching 

 closely the soil where they are seen ; and in the 

 west, where they habitually run along the bright- 

 colored roads, their coloration is striking. They 

 run and walk rather than hop, and have the fur- 

 ther habit of keeping in flocks when not nesting. 

 It has been complained that the Lark eats 

 newly planted wheat and oats, but the examina- 

 tion of 59 stomachs shows that it does not do 

 any appreciable damage to grain crops, and on 

 the other hand it does great good by eating weed 



FIG. 161. 

 Horned Lark. 



