COUES ON BIRDS OF DAKOTA AND MONTANA. 555 



CISTOTHORUS STELLAEIS, {Licht.) Cab. 



Short-billed Marsh Wren. 



The present is one of a few species of general distribution in the East- 

 ern Province, which appears much more abundant along its line of 

 migration in the Mississippi Yalley than on the Atlantic coast. In the 

 Bast, the species does not appear to have been observed beyond Southern 

 New England. The present specimens, secured at Pembina in June, 

 and later in the season along the Mouse Eiver, are the northernmost on 

 record, probably representing about the limit of its distribution in this 

 quarter. The species has been observed westward to the Loup Fork of 

 the Platte. I found the birds to be rather j)lentiful along the Eed Eiver, 

 in low, oozy ground overgrown with scrub willows, and also in the 

 reedy sloughs of the prairie. They were undoubtedly breeding here^ 

 though no nests were secured. 



List of specimens. 



TELMATODYTES PALUSTEIS, iWils.) Cab. 



LoNa-BiLLED Marsh Wren. 



This species was not observed till we reached the Eocky Mountains, 

 when a few were seen on marshy ground near Chief Mountain Lake. 

 It is, however, of undoubted occurrence in suitable situations along the 

 Line. 



EREMOPHILA ALPESTEIS LEUCOL.EMA, Coues. 



Western Horned Lark. 



One of the most interesting points in the history of the Horned Lark 

 is its peculiar distribution during the breeding-season. Its breeding- 

 range is in no way related to zones of latitude, nor yet is it determined 

 by altitude, but by the topographical features of the country. It rarely, 

 if ever, stops to breed along the Atlantic coast so far south as New 

 England, where the surface of the country is not adapted to its peculiar 

 wants. It is stated to occasionally nest in portions of Canada Westf 

 but it is not until we reach the valley of the uppermost Mississippi, in 

 a broad sense, that we find the bird regularly breeding within the United 

 States. I am informed by Mr. W. K. Lente, who accompanied the expe- 

 dition during the season of 1873, that it nests in Wisconsin, near Eacine, 

 laying about the middle of April, even before the snow is off the ground. 



