364 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



I found three nests containing eggs of this species. The 

 nests were built in hollows in the ground, the brim of the nest 

 flush with the surrounding soil. Each nest contained four eggs 

 similar to those of the prairie horned lark. I secured two birds 

 which are easily distinguished from the prairie horned lark by 

 their paler form. {W.Raine.) I believe this form was arenicola, 

 as I have found it breeding everywhere on the prairie. (Macoun.) 

 Breeding Notes. — -Nine nests of this lark were received at 

 Fort Anderson — a few of them from the Esquimaux, and the 

 others were collected by us in " the barrens " and on the coast of 

 Franklin Bay. The nest was usually composed of fine hay neatly 

 disposed and lined with deer hair. Several of the parent birds 

 were secured by snares placed thereon. (Macfarlane^ 



museum specimens. 



Six ; one taken at Indian Head, Assa., one at Revelstoke, B.C., 

 and four at Huntington, on the International Boundary, in the 

 Eraser River valley, all by Mr. Spreadborough. 



One set of three eggs taken June gth, 1900, at Artillery Lake, 

 northeast of Great Slave Lake, by Bishop, Lofthouse. 



4746. Prairie Horned Lark. 



Otocoris alpestris praticola Hensh. 1884. 



This bird is a miniature Uucolama, somewhat darker and with a 

 pale yellow chin which is seldom bright, and is often white. 

 Autumn birds seem to show more linear spots on the breast than 

 do the other forms, but this is not a constant feature. It seems 

 to have gradually extended its range eastward as the woods have 

 disappeared, and we can see why it should be nearer to leucolcema 

 than to alpestris. However, as we go westward, we find a direct 

 gradation into arenicola and this face passes directly into leuco- 

 lcema. Now leucolcema passes into alpestris., and somewhere in 

 the Saskatchewan or Winnipeg regions we shall find, I venture to 

 say, breeding birds that might be referred to anyone of these four 

 forms. Breeding birds have been examined from Toronto, Peel 

 Co., and Rat Portage, Ont.; Carberry, Man. {Dwight.) 



A specimen of this form was shot at Chateau Bay, southern 

 Labrador, on July 14th, 1891, which was possibly a straggler, but 

 may indicate that this form is a regular summer visitant to all 

 eastern Quebec and the Straits of Belle Isle. (Norton.) A com- 



