254 



Henshaw 071 the North America7i Shore Larks. 



[J"iy 



head streaked with dusky on a white ground, the tawny or rufous 

 edgings always seen in B. bor calls being wholly absent. The 

 measurements are as follows : — 



Colorado specimen 

 Type of B. cooperi 

 B. harlani. No. 6S51 



Tars. meas. in front. 



It will thus be seen that the two specimens of '^. cooperi'' 

 difl^er more from one another than one of them does from a 

 typical B. harlani. In fact, so far as the measurements are 

 concerned, the extremes as given above * would easily fall within 

 the range of individual and sexual variation in B. borealis^ or 

 any other species of equal size. The only character of coloration 

 in the type of B. cooperi which cannot readily be reconciled 

 with the theory of this supposed species being the light-colored 

 phase of B. harlani., is the nearly uniform decided glaucous- 

 gray hue of the primaries, which are almost without a trace of 

 the dark spots seen in all specimens of B. harlani that I have 

 examined, and also in B. borealis. But since the Colorado 

 specimen (if my memory is not at fault) had, as stated above, 

 the primaries differently marked, or brownish gray with distinct 

 black spotting, just as in B. harlani^ v^e may I'easonably con- 

 clude that the type specimen of B. cooperi presents an abnormal 

 or at least unusual coloration of these feathers. 



THE SHORE LARKS OF THE UNITED STATES 

 AND ADJACENT TERRITORY. 



BY H. W. HENSHAW. 



Of all our birds there are probably none that have given rise 

 to so much perplexity and been the occasion of so great confusion 

 as the Horned Larks. Occurring as they do, either as migrants 

 or as summer residents, over almost every portion of our terri- 



* Except the length of the tarsus, in which there is a discrepancy that it is difficult to 

 account for. 



