HISTORY 
General—The Prairie Horned Lark was described as a sep- 
arate subspecies by Henshaw (1884, p. 263). Prior to that 
time all accounts of eastern writers are concerned with the 
“Shore Lark’’, or ‘‘Horned Lark’’, which was, most likely, 
Otocoris alpestris alpestris since praticola did not, apparently, 
penetrate to the eastern states until the later part of the 19th 
century. 
The Horned Lark was described by Linnaeus (1758) as 
Alauda alpestris based upon the Alauda gutture flavo of Catesby 
(1731), whose figure of the bird is that of the northern form and 
not of praticola as Oberholser (1902, p. 809) has shown. 
Wilson’s Alauda cornuta (1808, p. 87) was also what is now 
known as Otocoris alpestris alpestris (as witness his description : 
“‘Forehead, throat, sides of neck, and line over the eye is of a 
delicate straw or Naples yellow . . . .’”) and Audubon’s account, 
from notes made in Labrador, was of this bird in its home. 
Since, then, most early writers are concerned with a sub- 
Species other than the Prairie Horned Lark, their accounts will 
be but briefly summarized here. Wilson (1834) says of the 
Horned Lark: “There is a singular appearance in this bird, 
which I have never seen taken notice of by former writers, viz., 
certain long black feathers, which extend by equal distances 
beyond each other, above the eyebrow; these are longer, more 
pointed, and of a different texture from the rest around them; 
and the bird possesses the power of erecting them, so as to 
appear like some of the owl tribe. Having kept one of these 
birds alive for some time, I was much amused at this odd 
appearance, and think it might furnish a very suitable specific 
appellation, viz., Alauda Cornuta, or Horned Lark.’ —— 
he says: “I have never heard of their nest being found within 
the territory of the United States.” 
Audubon (1834) knew more than just the littoral bird of the 
Atlantic Seaboard for he journeyed to Labrador and found 
the Lark at home. His vivid description was the basis for all 
subsequent accounts of the Horned Lark for fifty years and 
little was added between the time of his writing and 1875. He 
says, in part: “The face of the country [Labrador] appear 
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