OTOCORIS. 



347 



pale dull buffy, surrounding a narrow submargin of dark brown ; chest oehra- 

 ceous-buffy, indistinctly streaked or spotted with bright tawny brownish. Nest on 

 ground in meadows or open grassy places. Eggs 3-6, dull buffy whitish, pale 

 grayish brown, etc., thickly speckled or sprinkled with umber-brown, the latter 

 color sometimes nearly uniform. 



a}. Duller or grayer in color, the upper parts, chest, etc., with tawny tinge less 

 pronounced, black spots or streaks on back averaging narrower, and bill 

 shorter ; length about 7.00-7.75, wing 4.35-4.60, tail 2.90-3.10, exposed cul- 

 men .45-.50, tarsus .90-1.00. Eggs .90 X .61. Hab. Europe and portions of 

 Asia and Africa ; accidental in Greenland and Bermudas, and introduced, 

 though not successfully naturalized, in eastern United States (Long Island, 

 near Cincinnati, etc.) 473. A. arvensis Linn. Skylark. 



a 2 . Brighter or more tawny in color, black spots on back averaging larger, and bill 

 longer; length 6.80-7.80 (7.30), wing 4.25-4.70, tail 2.85-3.00, exposed cul- 

 men .43-.52, tarsus .95-1.10. Hab. Commander Islands, Kamtschatka, Kurils, 

 and northern Japan ; western Aleutians (?). 



A. blakistoni Stejn. Kamtschatkan Skylark. 1 



Genus OTOCORIS Bonaparte. (Page 346, pi. XCVL, fig. 2.) 



Species. 



Common Characters. — Adult males in spring and summer : Above varying from 

 vinaceous-gray to tawny cinnamon, the back and scapulars grayer or browner, and 

 more or less distinctly streaked with darker ; a broad patch covering fore-part and 

 sides of crown, lores, patch beneath eye (covering also anterior and lower portion 

 of ear-coverts), and patch across chest, uniform black ; bar or band across forehead 

 and extending backward 'as a broad superciliary stripe, middle portion of ear- 

 coverts, malar region, chin, throat, and sides of neck, varying from pure white to 

 deep primrose-yellow, the hinder portion of ear-coverts more or less distinctly gray- 

 ish ; sides (especially of breast) vinaceous or cinnamon, like nape, etc., the flanks 

 usually somewhat streaked ; rest of lower parts usually white, but sometimes (in 

 O. giraudi and O. strigatd) partly or even wholly pale yellow ; wings (except lesser 

 and middle coverts) grayish brown, the feathers edged with paler; tail (except 

 middle feathers) black, the outer web of exterior feather chiefly white, and that of 

 next feather edged, toward tip, with same. Adult males in fall and winter : Essen- 

 tially like the foregoing, but black markings of head more or less obscured by 

 light-colored tips to feathers, the plumage generally softer and colors more blended, 

 the chest often streaked, clouded, or washed with grayish. Adult females : Similar 

 to males, but decidedly smaller, with black head-markings much less distinct (that 

 on top of head never well defined or continuous), the bold pattern of these mark- 

 ings as seen in the male seldom more than merely indicated ; vinaceous or cinnamon 

 tints of males much less pronounced (sometimes almost wholly wanting), and 

 plumage generally more extensively streaked. (Seasonal differences as in males.) 



1 Alauda blakistoni Stejn., Proe. Biol. Soc. Wash. ii. Apr. 10, 1884, 98. 



