282 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PASSEBES — OSCINES. 



and whole throat white or sulphury-yellow. Bill plumbeous-blackish, bluish -plumbeous at 

 base below (sometimes there yellowish) ; feet and claws black; iris brown. Length of ^, 

 7.00-7.50; extent. 13.00-14.00 ; wing 4.25-4.50; tail 2.75-3.00; bill, from extreme base of 

 oulmen, 0.40-0.50; tarsus 0.88-0.90; middle toe and claw rather less; lund claw about 0.50, 

 usually longer than its digit, but very variable. 9 commonly smaller than the (J ; length 

 6.75-7.35; extent 12.75-13.25; wing about 4.00, etc. $ $, adult, in winter: As usually 

 seen in most of the United States in the fall, winter, and early spring, differ fi-om the above in 

 more sordid coloration of the upper parts, which may be simply grayish-brown, heavily streaked 

 with dusky, even on the crown, with little or none of the "pinkish " tints ; and in lack or re- 

 striction of the black markings of the head and breast, or their being veiled with whitish tips 

 of the individual feathers ; nevertheless, the sulphury tinge of the white parts about the head is 

 usually very conspicuous. Fledglings have the upper parts dusky, mixed with some yellowish- 

 brown, and sprinkled all over with whitish or light tawny dots, each feather having a terminal 

 speck. Most of the vidng- and tail-feathers have rusty, tawny, or whitish edging and tipping. 

 The under parts are white, mottled with the colors of the upper parts along the sides and across 

 the back ; no traces of definite black markings about the head and breast, nor any yellow 

 tinge. BiU and feet pale or yellowish. This peculiar speckled stage is of brief duration ; with 

 an early autumnal change, a dress, little if at all different from' that of the adults in winter, is 

 acquired. Nesting begins very early in April, or even in March, sometimes before the snow is 

 gone, and frequently other broods are reared through the summer; nest of grasses, etc., sunken 

 in the ground; eggs very variable in tone, but always profusely and heavUy marked with 

 brownish-gray or dark stone-gray upon a grayish or greenish-white ground ; in some cases 

 the whole surface nearly uniform. Northern hemisphere at large ; in America, chiefly north- 

 ern and eastern parts, breeding from the Northern States nqrthward, common in flocks in the 

 U. S. in winter; chiefly replaced in the West by the following varieties. 



83. B. a. leucolse'ma. (G-r. XevKos, leuJeos, white; Xcj/nos, laimos, throat.) Westben Shore 

 Lark. Size of the foregoing. General coloration extremely pale — brownish-gray, the 

 peculiar pinkish tint of certain parts sharing the general pallor. Black markings on head and 

 breast much restricted in extent, and white surroundings correspondingly increased — thus, the 

 black post-frontal bar scarcely or not broader than the white of the forehead. No yellow about 

 head, excepting usually a slight tinge on the chin. Changes of plumage parallel with those 

 already given ; even the nestlings show the same decided pallor. Prairies of Western U. S., 

 breeding everywhere north of about 40°; very abundant. 



84, E. a. chrysolaB'ma. (Gr. xp^<^^°^j chruseos, golden ; Xaijuos, laimos, throat.) South-west- 

 BRN Shore Lark. Smaller than the foregoing : $ with the wing scarcely or not 4.00, and 



other dimensions to correspond ; a very small 

 specimen, probably ? , has the wing only 3.50; 

 in another, marked $, it is 3.75. The "pink- 

 ish " tinge intensified into cinnamon-brown, and 

 pervading nearly all the upper parts ; yellow of 

 head intensified ; black markings very heavy, — 

 the black on the crown widened to occupy more 

 than haif the cap, reducing the white frontlet to 

 a mere trace. Southwestern U. S. and Mexico, 

 breeding mostly south of 40° ; abundant. 



ii^^^^^^SS^lM^ 12. Subfamily ALAUDIN/E: Sky.Larks. 



"'''^f ^ -^?-^^4^^/W '^ Eepresented in America by one species, a 



Fig. 155. — Sky-Lark, reducea. (From Dixon.) straggler from the Old World. Fig. 155. 

 28. AXiAU'DA. (Lat. alauda, a lark ; supposed Celtic al, high, and aud, song.) Sky-Laeks. 



