194 



Allen atid Brewster on Colorado Birds. [October 



hence representing the resident form, shows only a limited amount of 

 individual variation, the characteristic stj'le of color and markings being 

 very uniformly presented. The general coloring is very pale — quite up 

 to the standard of typical leucolcBma, and the peculiar pinkish of certain 

 parts is bleached to a nearly obsolete tint. The black shield on the 

 breast is restricted to the minimum size, but the black bar on the crown 

 is always at least twice the width of the white on the forehead, or quite 

 as broad as in alfestris and chrysolcema. The throat is usually pale 

 yellow but there is never any yellow on the breast, and rarely any 

 on the forehead or sides of the head. Only one example has a pure 

 white throat, but in several the yellow is restricted to a mere tinge on the 

 chin. 



These specimens are uniformly smaller than eastern examples of 

 alpesiris, and hence smaller than typical examples of leucolisnia which, 

 according to Dr. Coues, should be about the size of alpestris. The 

 measurements of an average Colorado specimen are as follows : Wing, 

 4.20; tail, 2.98; tarsus, .82; culmen from feathers, .46. 



In "Birds of the Colorado Valley" (p. 187), Dr. Coues gives the 

 breeding range of E. le.ucolcema as "plains of the United States, north 

 of about 40°," and refers all the birds which breed south of this parallel, 

 to the eastward as well as westward of the Rocky Mountains, to var. 

 chrysolcBma. This arrangement seems to me questionable. In a series 

 of nearly one hundred Horned Larks from various points on the plains 

 east'of the Rocky Mountains, I find only a' slight variation with latitude. 

 There is, to be sure, a gradual diminution in size from north to south 

 but this is not accompanied by any decided changes of color, and, 

 making allowance for local variations, the region at large, between the 

 Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River and the British and Mexican 

 boundaries, furnishes a style which in its generally pallid coloration and 

 restricted markings fulfills the essential characters of variety leucolcema. 

 Furthermore the Horned Lark of Colorado and New Mexico (represented 

 in my series by breeding specimens from Santa Fe), is a widely different 

 bird from the bright-colored form which we get from California, and 

 which passes current as typical chrysolcF.ma. Whether this California 

 race is really identical with the chrysolcema of Mexico or not I have no 

 present means of judging, but if it be so, the alternative with the birds 

 just discussed is to call them all leticolcema, or to separate the southern 

 representatives under a new name. If the latter are true chrysolcsma 

 the California form must be re-named. In either case the California 

 and Colorado forms cannot be considei-ed identical. 



The proper position of the Horned Larks which bi-eed east of the 

 Mississippi in the United States is also a matter that requires further 

 investigation. Such specimens have b€en usually referred to alpestris, 

 but all that I have differ considerably ixoxA that form. Four examples 

 taken at Ann Arbor, Michigan, have scarcely any yellow about the head, 

 and in one of them the throat and chin are pure white. Specimens 

 from Southern Illinois are rather smaller and richer colored, but still 



