CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 367 



One set of three eggs taken May 14th, 1889, on the Experi- 

 mental Farm, Ottawa, by Dr. James Fletcher. 



Two specimens taken at Indian Head, Assa., and named hoyti, 

 are referred here for the present. 



4740. Desert Horned Lark. 



Otocoris alpestris arenicola Hensh. 1884. 



This is undoubtedly the form named by Dr. Coues Eremophila 

 alpestris leucolcema in his article on " Birds of Dakota and Mon- 

 tana " and why his name has been attached to the northern bird 

 is more than I can understand. He found this form breeding all 

 along the boundary across the whole prairie region. In the 

 writer's trip across the prairie this form was found everywhere on 

 the prairie south of Lat. 50" from the lOOth meridian to the 1 14th 

 at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Our northern specimens 

 are three from Indian Head, Assa., taken between April 7th and 

 I2th, 1892; four others from Medicine Hat, taken between April 6th 

 and May 2nd, 1894. On the prairie south of the line of the Can- 

 adian Pacific Railway this' species with McCown's bunting and the 

 chestnut collared bunting were extremely common and constantly 

 flocked together. {Macoun.) 



Breeding Notes. — The horned lark is one of the species which, 

 in this latitude, usually rears at least two broods each season — a 

 fact which in part accounts for the preponderence of individuals 

 over those of the species with which they are associated. I have 

 already adverted to the extremely early nesting-time which has 

 been ascertained and have only to add that the period of repro- 

 duction is protracted through July. I have observed young birds 

 on the wing in June, and found fresh eggs in the nest during the 

 latter half of July. In fact, all through the summer months the 

 troops of larks everywhere to be seen consist of old birds mixed 

 with the young in all stages of growth. The great flocks, however, 

 are not usually made up until the end of the summer, when all 

 the young are full grown, and the parents having concluded the 

 business of rearing their young, have changed their plumage. The 

 young of the first brood soon lose the peculiar speckled plumage 

 with which they are at first covered ; the later ones change 

 about the time the feathers of the old birds are being renewed. 

 The agreeable warbling song is scarcely to be heard after June. 

 The nest of the horned lark may be stumbled upon anywhere on 



