96 



Bird - Lore 



Prairie Horned Larks and Lapland 

 Longspurs at Ithaca, N. Y. 



The winter of 1915-16 was very severe 

 in this part of New York, and many birds 

 whose habitat is a more northerly one 

 spent the winter with us. It was noticed 

 that the Prairie Horned Larks were here 

 in great numbers, and since practically 

 all of their natural food was covered up 

 by the heavy and successive snowfalls, 

 a feeding-station was started for them on 



sheltered hillside. The Larks were soon 



another. A male would stop feeding, lower 

 his head, slightly elevate his tail, and then 

 dart at his nearest neighbor and try to 

 chase him from the food. Of course this 

 usually resulted in a fight. While they were 

 feeding one could almost always hear the 

 rustling of wings and the sharp, whistled 

 notes as several of the Larks were settling 

 their differences. When the food was all 

 used up, or along toward evening, the 

 Larks would scatter and find sheltered 

 places to rest. At such times they were 

 often seen sitting on stakes and posts in 



LAPLAND LONGSPUR AND HORNED LARKS 



coming by tens and even hundreds, and 

 a quart of feed would barely last an hour. 



Almost all of them became quite tame 

 and moved away but a few feet when one 

 came to replenish the food-supply. At 

 such times it was an interesting sight indeed 

 to see the field dotted with Larks waiting 

 for their luncheon! It was an excellent 

 opportunity for close study, and we found 

 that we had not only the Prairie Horned 

 Larks {Olocoris alpestris praticola) but 

 also several of the Shore Larks (0. alpes- 

 tris alpestris) that are very rare in this 

 vicinity, coming regularly to the feeding- 

 station. 



They were very quarrelsome while feed- 

 ing and were continually rushing at one 



the field, and, on one occasion, one perched 

 on a small tree, a quite unusual thing for 

 a Horned Lark to do. 



The Horned Larks were not to enjoy 

 this free food all by themselves, however, 

 for soon Snow Buntings began to come 

 and mingle with them. They were rather 

 shy and always stayed on the outskirts of 

 the noisy Lark-mob, not seeming to 

 appreciate their rough tactics. When the 

 Larks were satisfied and moved away from 

 the food, the Buntings would go in and 

 help themselves. These birds never be- 

 came as tame as the Horned Larks and 

 generally flew away on our close approach. 



One day, several Sparrow-like birds 

 were seen at the station, but they flew 



