HORNED LARK AND LONGSPUR 



TWO RUNNERS ON SKIS 



Horned Lark 

 {Fig. 42) 



E all know that the Horned Lark 



cannot write, but if we look In the 



right piaces we may sometimes see 



his "mark" imprinted on the snow, 



when we know as surely as though 



it were written, that either a 



Horned Lark, or Snow Bunting, or the rare Lapland 



Longspur has been before us. All three live on the 



ground, and all three have the long hind toe-nail 



which belongs to walking, terrestrial birds, and is 



quite unlike the curved, hooked hind toe-nail which 



gives most perching birds a strong, firm grasp of the 



limb on which they are resting. 



During the winter Horned Larks, or, as they are 



also called, Shore Larks, live in flocks which frequent 



broad, open fields, beaches and tidal flats. When 



disturbed, they bound lightly into the air, uttering 



a high, thin, "tsee-tsee," and swing off to some new 



108 



