LARKS 43 



LARKS. FAMILY ALAUDID^ 



PRAIRIE HORNED LARK 

 Otocoris alpeslris praticola. Case 2, Fig. 42 



Note the long hind-toe nail (or the track it leaves), the little 

 feathered 'horns,' the black patch on cheeks and breast (less 

 evident in winter). Smaller than the Northern Horned Lark, 

 which visits the United States only in winter, with the line 

 over the eye white, and throat but faintly tinged with yellow. 

 L. 7I. 



Range. Nests in the Upper Mississippi Valley from Missouri 

 and in the Atlantic States (locally), from Connecticut north- 

 ward; winters southward to Texas and Georgia. The Horned 

 Lark (Otocoris alpestris alpeslris), is a more northern race, nesting 

 in the Arctic regions and migrating southward as far as Ohio and 

 rarely Georgia, when it is often associated with the resident 

 Prairie Horned Lark. It is larger than that race (L. 7!) and has 

 the throat and line over the eye yellow. 



Washington, common W. V., Aug. 11-Apl. Cambridge, one 

 record. N. Ohio, common P. R. Glen Ellyn, common P. R. 

 SE. Minn., S. R., Mch.-Nov., a few in mild winters. 



A bird of open places — shores, plains, and prairies, 

 and roadways — who runs (not hops) nimbly ahead of one, 

 or, with a short note, rises, and on its long, pointed wings, 

 flies on ahead. He usually returns to the ground, but 

 may alight on a fence; his long hind toe-nail not being 

 suited to grasping a small perch. The weak, twittering 

 song is uttered on the wing, when the bird, like its relative 

 the Skylark, mounts into the air. It also sings from a 

 perch near the ground. 



The Prairie Horned Lark is the first of our small birds to 

 nest, making its home on the ground and laying four 

 finely speckled eggs early in March. After the nesting 

 season the birds gather in flocks. 



