THE PEAIRIE HORNED LAEK. 335 



etc., apj)ear to be preferred by these birds to the more fertile sections, and in 

 such localities they are generally common. 



The Prairie Horned Lark is a hardy bird, and not a few are constant resi- 

 dents, even along our northern border, throughout the greater part of the year, 

 going southward only during unusually heavy snowstorms in the latter part of 

 December or the beginning of January, but frequently reappearing on their 

 breeding grounds early in February, and by the latter part of the month most 

 of these birds have already mated. 



According- to Prof. Walter B. Barrows, of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, the food of our Horned Lark consists principally of seeds of dif- 

 ferent grasses, like those of the pigeon, foxtail, and Hungarian (Setaria), also of 

 those of different species of Polygonum (bindweed, knotweed, and smartweed), 

 those of the ragweeds (Ambrosia), pigweed (Chenopodiuni), etc. Broken kernels 

 of oats and other grains have also been found in their stomachs, evidently 

 picked up in the roads and streets among the di'oppings of horses. Durmg 

 spring and summer, when small insects abound, a portion of their food consists 

 of young locusts and grasshoppers, small beetles and their larvae, and hairless 

 caterpillars, and the young nestlings at least are fed to some extent on insect 

 food. From an economic point of view, all our Horned Larks must be con- 

 sidered as useful birds, doing- far more good than harm, and even if they do 

 now and then pull up some young grain, or pick up newly sown grain or 

 grass seed which may have been left uncovered, as it is asserted they occasion- 

 ally do, such damage is at best but very trifling, and is far more than compen- 

 sated for by the good they do in eating the seeds of many noxious weeds and the 

 destruction of injurious insects, and in my opinion they deserve full protection. 

 Their stomachs in most cases contain a large percentage of sand, which assists 

 them greatly in the digestion of the small hard seeds on which they live to a 

 great extent. 



The late Mr. G. E. Harris kindly sent me the following notes on this sub- 

 species, as observed by him in the vicinity of Buffalo, New York, for several 

 seasons. He wrote: "The Prairie Horned Lark is a very common summer resi- 

 dent in this vicinity, and usually arrives here during the first thaw in February, 

 coming- in flocks which sometimes number hundreds. This season (1893) I first 

 noted them on February 14; but owing- to sickness my observations only covered 

 what could be seen from my window. They appear to be unmated when they 

 first arrive, but love maldng commences soon after, and by the 1st of March they 

 are all mated ; for the males are then in full song — an indescribable warble — and 

 they may be seen chasing the females continually, like the Bobolinks, but they 

 are not nearly as shy as the latter, as there are no hiding places at this season 

 on the bare fields or pastures which they frequent. A nesting site is chosen as 

 soon as the snow commences to disappear in March, and early in the season one 

 is always selected on a little knoll or on a slight rise of ground in a pasture or 

 meadow. The nests here are usually built on the east side of such a knoll, for 

 protection from the cold west winds; they are mostly placed alongside a piece of 



