48 SHORE LARK. 



"Early in November/' as my friend Dr. T. M. Brewer informs me, 

 "the Shore Lark makes its appearance in Massachusetts, and continues 

 there in large flocks of immature birds through the whole of the winter, and 

 until March. They fly in small flocks, usually of less than twenty, 

 frequenting for the greater part the salt-marshes along the coast. They 

 suffer greatly from the depredations made upon them by Hawks of various 

 kinds, especially the Rough-legged Falcon, the Red-shouldered Hawk, and 

 the Marsh Hawk." "On June 10," says Mr. Nuttall, "on the plains by 

 the banks of the sweet water of the Platte, we started the Shore Lark from 

 her nest in a small depression on the ground. It was made of bent grass, 

 lined with coarse bison hair. The eggs were olive-white, minutely spotted 

 all over with a darker tinge." 



Shore Lark, Alauda cornnta, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 85. 



Aladda alpestrts, B'onap. Syn., p. 102. 



Horned or Shore Lark, Alauda cornuta, Swains. & Rich. P. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. 



p. 245. 

 Shore Lark, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 522. (2nd edition.) 

 Shore Lark, Alauda alpestris, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 570; vol. v. p. 488. 



Male with two erectile pointed tufts of feathers on the anterior lateral 

 parts of the head. In winter the upper parts dusky brown, the feathers 

 paler on the edges; on the forehead a recurved crescentic band of brownish- 

 black; another curved downwards, proceeding on each side from the base of 

 the upper mandible; a band of yellowish-white over the eye and forehead; 

 throat pale-yellow, with a broad dusky patch on the lower neck, the rest of 

 the lower parts brownish-white; quills dusky, tail-feathers blackish, excepting 

 the two middle, which are reddish-brown, like the upper tail-coverts. In 

 summer, the brownish-black bands on the head and neck become deep black, 

 the throat and frontal band white, and the upper parts light brownish-red. 

 Female dusky brown above, dull white beneath; the wings and tail as in the 

 male, but the black bands on the head and neck wanting. Young from the 

 nest with the upper parts deep brown, mottled with pale reddish-brown, 

 lower parts pale yellowish-grey. 



Male, 1\, 14. 



Breeds in Labrador and northwards. Migrates in autumn southward, as 

 far as the Texas. Not uncommon in the Western Country at that season. 



