88 V. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



Family ALAUDIDAE: Larks 

 Eremophila alpestris arcticola (Oberholser) 



15 males 



May 14-July 22 



weight (15), 33-41, 

 average 37 g. 



7 females 



May 19-Jime 23 



weight (11), 30-40, 

 average 37 g. 



1 yomig male 



July 13 



weight 31 g. 



1 young female 



July 22 



weight 32 g. 



Seven pallid-horned larks from Tuluak Lake were brought to me 

 for identification in 1948. They had been taken on May 15, 16, and 

 23.. The dates of earliest record are May 15, 1948, May 18, 1949, May 

 28, 1950, May 3, 1951, April 28, 1953, and May 3, 1954. The irregu- 

 larity in the recorded annual arrivals of homed larks result because 

 the high ground which they frequent is off the common paths of travel 

 in early spring. No flocks are recorded nor do I know the extent of 

 the migration except that larks are common in many parts of the 

 arctic slope to the northward. 



The larks apparently nest earlier than any of the Fringillidae. A 

 large egg was found in a female on May 22. Developing eggs 10 mm. 

 in length were found in a female examined on May 31, 1951, and an- 

 other female on that date was noted as having already laid its eggs. 

 On May 29, 1951, a female was collected near its nest of four eggs. 

 Four eggs found by Tom Brower on June 13, 1949, were so far 

 incubated that they could not be saved. A nest with four eggs was 

 reported to me near Imaiginik on May 28, 1951. Two young specimens 

 taken on July 13 and 22 were flying and near adult size. 



Although they are among the earliest migrant birds to arrive, some 

 of the larks were plainly moving southward in preliminary migratory 

 movement as early as August 5. Their arrival in the cold weather of 

 the arctic spring conforms with the apparent suitability of their 

 feathers for effective insulation. But in spite of their ability to live 

 normally in cold weather they begin to leave soon after the warmest 

 part of the arctic summer and all are gone before the onset of cold 

 weather. 



Larks kept pretty well to the elevated dry portions of Anaktuvuk 

 Valley and its sides, and in July were found occasionally along the 

 drier parts of the slopes. They ranged to 300 or 400 feet above the 

 valley floor on the edge of the terrain occupied by the wheatears at 

 the foot of the talus slopes, but they were commonly at lower levels. 

 None have been recorded seen at high elevations. Larks were never 

 numerous at one place, but they spread over a large area and therefore 

 outnumber the wheatears and gray-crowned rosy finches. Ln 1950 

 at Summit larks were less frequently seen than Smith's longspurs. 



