LARKS 349 



Buntings, and flocks may contain numbers of our resident Shore Lark, 

 0. a. praticola. 



474b. O. a. praticola Hensh. PRAIRIE HORNED LARK. Similar to 

 the preceding, but smaller and somewhat paler, with the forehead and line 

 over the eye white instead of yellow, the throat but slightly tinged with 

 yellow, and sometimes entirely white. 

 L., 7-25; "W., 4'08; T., 2'86; B. from 

 N., -37" (Dwight). 



Range. NE. U. S. and Canada. 

 Breeds chiefly in Transition zone from 

 s. Man. and s. Que. to e. Kans., s. Mo., 

 Ohio, W. Va., and Conn.; winters s. to 

 Tex., Tenn., and Ga., and casually to 

 Ariz, and Colo. 



Washington, common W. V., Aug. 

 1 1-Apl. Cambridge, one record. N. Ohio, 

 common P. R. Glen Ellyn, common 

 P. R. SE. Minn., S. R., Mch.-Nov., a 

 few in mild winters. 



Nesting date, Buffalo, N. Y., Mch. 9; 

 se. Minn., Mch. 10. FIG. 96. Prairie Horned Lark. 



(Natural size.) 



This is one of the birds that has 



changed its range since the settlement of America. It is properly a 

 species of the prairies and open barrens, but since the once-continuous 

 forest of the older States and provinces has been broken up, it has 

 made its appearance in the East, wherever the country is suited to its 

 requirements. 



It is strictly a ground bird, never perching on trees, though it com- 

 monly alights on the top of a fence-post or other low, level surface. 

 When encountered on a pathway it often runs before the pedestrian 

 after the manner of the Vesper Sparrow, from which bird, however, 

 it may be distinguished by the black feathers in its tail, by its brown 

 back, and by the black marks on its face; also by the fact that it runs, 

 but does not hop, and when it flies it usually utters a whistle, whereas 

 the Vesper Sparrow invariably flies off in silence. 



Its chief song is poured forth in the air as it soars aloft, like a Sky- 

 lark; but it often utters this same song while perched on some clod or 

 stone, especially just before dawn and after sunset, as well as in the 

 springtime, while the snow is yet on the ground. 



ERNEST THOMPSON SETON. 



474k. O. a. hoyti Bishop. HOYT'S HORNED LARK. "Similar to 0. a, 

 alpestris but with the upperparts generally paler and more gray, the posterior 

 auriculars gray rather than brown, and the yellow of the head and neck 

 replaced by white, excepting the forehead, which is dirty greenish white, 

 and the throat, which is distinctly yellow, most pronounced toward the 

 center. . . . The adult female in spring plumage differs in a similar man- 

 ner from the female of alpestris, but in the female of hoyti the yellow on the 

 throat is much paler than in the male." W., 4'35. (Bishop.) 



Range. Cen. N. Am. Breeds n. of limit of trees from mouth of the 

 Mackenzie to w. shore of Hudson Bay; winters s. to Nev., Utah, Kans., and 

 Mich.; casual in Ohio and N. Y. 



