70 



THE OOLOGIST 



on the subject from my own wayward 

 pen. This seems to be the first oppor- 

 tunity I have found for doing so. 



Mr. Bowdish states that his research- 

 es of eight years have failed to find for 

 him any occurrences of the true Horn- 

 ed Lark (alpestris), and his article 

 seems to tend towai'ds eliminating the 

 bird from our Western New York avi- 

 fauna. Personally, I have not had the 

 opportunity to determine what propor- 

 tion of our Larks are alpestris, inas- 

 louch as I have been away from home 

 almost continually during the past five 

 years: but that the true Horned L-ark 

 ( Otocoris alpestris) does occur in West- 

 ern New York is conclusively evidenc- 

 ed by the facts which I here append. 



1 have in my possession an interest- 

 ing letter from my friend, the eminent 

 ornithologist, Mr. J. L. Davison of 

 Lockport, N. Y., written under date of 

 Jan. 20, 1891, in which he informs 

 us that on the 13th of April, 



1889, he sent two specimens of Otocoris 

 (taken near Lockport) to the American 

 Museum of Natural History at New 

 York and two specimens to Dr. A. K. 

 Fisher of Washington. Of the two 

 sent to the New York Museum and ex- 

 amined by Dr. Jonathan D wight, Jr., 

 one proved to be alpestris and the oth- 

 er praticola. In The Auk for April, 



1890, is an exhaustive article on "The 

 Horned Larks of North America" by 

 Dr. D wight, and in this article mention 

 is made of the Lockport specimen of 

 alpestris. The Lockport specimen hav- 

 ing been taken on the 13th of April it 

 would appear that alpestris overlaps 

 praticola and remains with us after 

 praticola has commenced breeding. 



Further, there are in a private col- 

 lection connected with the collection of 

 the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, 

 several specimens which I consider 

 and which, indeed, are considered by 

 the owner and other ornithologists con- 

 nected with the Society as referable to 

 the true Horned Lark, 0, alpestris 



The opinion I have held for thi© past 

 eight years concerning the status 

 of the Horned Larks in the lake coun- 

 ties of Western New York remains nn- 

 changed, and may be briefiy stated as 

 follows: 



474. Otocoris alpestris (Linn.) Horned 

 Lark. Winter resident, not common, 

 arriving from the North in December 

 or earlier and lingering until into 

 April. 



474b. Otocoris alpestris praticola. 

 (Hensh.) Prairie Horned Lark. Com- 

 mon summer resident. Breeds. Ar- 

 rives about February 1st or sometimes 

 a few days earlier and departs in No- 

 vember, thus being nearly continual. 

 Sometimes individuals or small flocks 

 may spend the entire winter with us. 



Should the facts and theories herein 

 related prove of interest to any of the 

 Oologist's readers it will be a source 

 of satisfaction to 



Neil F. Posson, 

 Medina, N. Y. 



Cuckoo and Other Notes. 



The American Cuckoos exhibit many 

 peculiarities, but I have lately noticed 

 two circumstances that are new to me 

 though I have collected their eggs for 

 11 years, examining hundreds of nests. 

 We have both the Yellow-billed and 

 Black-billed species in Western New 

 York, the latter much more common. 

 On the 28th of May this year I flushed a 

 Black-billed Cuckoo from her nest in 

 the usual situation, a thick bush in a 

 second growth tract. The nest then 

 contained one egg, evidently fresh as 

 indicated by the bright color and clean- 

 ness of the shell. On returning to the 

 nest one week later, June 4th, I found 

 four eggs, I thought this strange as two 

 eggs is the usual complement of the 

 Black-bill with us and over three I had 

 never found. 



Imagine my surprise on reaching 

 home to find three eggs on the point of 



