446 ALAUDIDA. 
brown ; legs, toes, and claws, bluish black, the hind claw 
straight, and longer than the toe. This is the plumage of 
autumn. In winter, the black on the crown of the head, on 
the cheeks and chest, becomes dusky brown. In summer, 
Mr. Audubon says, the brownish black bands on the head 
and neck become deep black; the throat and frontal band 
white, and the upper parts of the body light brownish red. 
A female, killed on Lake Superior, described by Dr. 
Richardson, ‘“‘ wanted the black horned mark, and also the 
vinacious tint of the head, neck, and shoulders of the male, 
these parts being coloured like the back; the eye stripe, 
and under surface of the head lemon yellow, and there was 
a narrow black band fringed with yellow on the upper part 
of the breast. The rest of the plumage nearly as in the 
male; her dimensions a little smaller.” 
The young males of the year, after their first autumnal 
moult, resemble the adult female. 
The whole length of an adult male about seven inches. 
From the carpal joint to the end of the quill-feathers four 
inches and one quarter: the first three quill-feathers very 
nearly equal in length, and the longest in the wimg; the 
first feather a little longer than the third; the fourth quill- 
feather a quarter of an inch shorter than the third. 
This pointed form of wing affords great power of flight, 
and may help to account for the very extended geographical 
range of this species. 
