The Lark Bunting 



No. 38 



Lark Bunting 



A. O. U. No. 605. Calamospiza melanocorys Stejneger. 



Description. — Adult male in breeding plumage: Nearly uniform black, duller 

 (browner or grayer) on back; a patch of brownish gray on flanks, occasionally crossing 

 rump; a large white blotch on wing formed by middle and greater coverts; tertials 

 edged with white, and tail-feathers white-blotched on tips. Bill dark horn blue 

 above, paler below; feet brown. Adult female: Quite different; above grayish brown, 

 finely and heavily streaked with dusky; below white, sharply streaked, especially 

 on sides of throat, on breast and sides, with dusky; white blotch on wing much reduced 

 and tinged more or less with buffy. Adult male in autumn: Much like adult female, 

 but wing markings more pronounced; chin black; and feathers of underparts extensively 

 black basally (with irruptive appearance when disturbed). Length of adult male 

 about 165 (6.50); wing 88 (3.46); tail 68 (2.67); bill 14 (.55); depth at base 1 1.4 (.49); 

 tarsus 24.4 (.96). Females average smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; all black of male in high plumage, with 

 white wing blotches, distinctive. In case of females and autumnal males, the robust 

 beak, taken in connection with white blotches on wing and tips of tail-feathers, prevents 

 confusion in an otherwise "merely streaked" bird. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: Of grasses, sunk flush with 

 surface of ground. Eggs: 4 or 5; pale bluish green, immaculate, or, rarely, speckled, 

 or marked with reddish brown. Av. size 22 x 16 (.88 x .65). Season: June; one brood. 



General Range. — Plains of central North America, breeding from southern 

 Alberta, Saskatchewan, and southwestern Manitoba, south to northeastern New 

 Mexico and northwestern Texas, east to Nebraska and western Minnesota; in winter 

 from southern Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Texas south over the tableland 

 of Mexico and in southern Lower California. Occurs sporadically during migrations 

 west to California, east to Iowa; accidental in Atlantic seaboard states. 



Occurrence in California. — Irregular visitor, chiefly in late winter or spring, 

 in southern portion of State; occasionally occurs in some numbers. There are about 

 thirteen published records of occurrence, all lying within the area defined by Santa 

 Barbara (Mailliard), Tulare Lake (J. S. Cooper), San Diego (Holterhoff), and the 

 Colorado River (J. Grinnell). 



Authorities. — Cooper, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vol. ii., 1877, p. 92 (Tulare Lake); 

 Cones, Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 163 (peculiarities of structure; habits; nests 

 and eggs, etc.); Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 11, 1915, p. 137 (Calif, records); 

 Wyman, Condor, vol. xviii., 1916, p. 203 (Los Angeles); Herron, Condor, vol. xviii., 

 1916, p. 205 (Cabezon); Whittle, Condor, vol. xxiv., 1922, p. 74 (flight song). 



DID YOU EVER hear of a bird wearing a dress suit under an ulster? 

 Well, that is precisely what the Lark Bunting does; that is, the male Lark 

 Bunting, during nine months of the year. The female, poor drudge, is 

 not allowed any such finery, even for her honeymoon. She makes shift 

 the year around with a dull habit of brownish gray, streaked with dusky 



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