346 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



134. Otocoris alpestris merrilli Dwight. 



DUSKY HORNED LARK. 



Otocoris alpestris merrilli Dwight, Auk, VII, April, 1890, 153. 

 (B — , C — , B — , C — , U 474/.) 



Geographical range: From southern British Columbia south through Washington 

 and Oregon east of the Cascade Moun tain s, and northern California, east of the Sierra Nevada, 

 east to southwestern Alberta ? and Idaho; south in winter to Nevada and California. 



The breeding range of the Dusky Horned Lark, as far as known, extends 

 from the eastern slopes of Mount Shasta, in northern California, through those 

 parts of Oregon, Washington, and southern British Columbia east of the Cascade 

 Mountains, north to about latitude 51°; eastward it ranges through the more fertile 

 portions of Idaho, and quite likely also into the southwestern parts of the 

 Province of Alberta, in the Dominion of Canada. 



This subspecies is essentially a bird of the foothills (the so-called "bunch 

 grass country," Festuca sp.f) as well as of the more open and grass-covered 

 valleys and plains occasionally found in the mountains, while it is either rare or 

 entirely absent in the more arid sagebrush plains found interspersed through 

 the same regions t I have met with the Dusky Horned Lark in various parts of 

 Oregon and Washington, where it is quite common in suitable localities. While 

 en route from Fort Walla Walla, Washington, to Fort Klamath, Oregon, during 

 the latter part of May and the first two weeks in June, 1882, some of these 

 birds were almost constantly in sight wherever the road passed through open 

 country, and many young birds had already left their nests. At Fort Klamath 

 they were not uncommon on the gravelly prairie adjoining the Post, and Dr. 

 James C. Merrill, United States Army, found it breeding there. In the vicinity of 

 Camp Harney, Oregon, it was very rare in summer and only seen on the more 

 open, grass-covered plains in the central parts of the Harney Valley, the higher 

 portions of this being covered with a g'ood growth of sagebrush (Artemisia), 

 which they seem to avoid. 



Its general habits, etc., as well as its nests and eggs, are similar to those 

 of the other members of this genus. Undoubtedly two broods are raised in a 

 season, as I found a set of two slightly incubated eggs in the Great Bend of the 

 Columbia River on June 9, 1879. The nest was placed in a slight depression 

 beside a tussock of bunch grass near the trail from Lake Chelan to Spokane 

 Falls, Washington, and I found these birds as common here as farther south. 

 The eggs resemble those of the other members of this family, and from two to 

 four are usually laid to a set. 



The average measurement of five specimens in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 20.95 by 15.92 millimetres, or about 0.82 by 0.63 inch. 

 The largest egg measures 21.84 by 16.51 millimetres, or 0.86 by 0.65 inch; the 

 smallest, 20.32 by 15.24 millimetres, or 0.80 by 0.60 inch. 



