21 



which it doubtless ranges sparingly to the base of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Audubon, who first described this species, met with it in 

 considerable abundance about Fort Union, near the mouth of the 

 Yellowstone, in the summer of 1843. It was next taken on the 

 Saskatchewan by Capt. Blackiston, and by Capt. J. P. McCown 

 at Fort Randall, D. T., where Dr. Coues feels sure also of having 

 seen it. 1 Dr. Coues also reports it as abundant on the prairies 

 of the northern border of Dakota, where he obtained it in large 

 numbers the past summer. Though it so long eluded observation 

 after its discovery by Audubon, it seems to be a tolerably abundant 

 species over a considerable area. 



Audubon speaks of the resemblance of its habits to those of the 

 European Sky-lark, and of the difficulty of obtaining specimens. In 

 common with others, I sought for the bird at first on the ground, 

 striving to locate it by its notes, which were finally found to orig- 

 inate from a point over our heads, so high in the air that the bird 

 was almost invisible. Their notes resemble the syllables jingle, jin- 

 gle, jingle, jingle, rapidly repeated, beginning loud and high, and 

 decreasing rapidly in strength and loudness, and are remarkable 

 for their clear metallic ring, their song reminding one of the jing- 

 ling sound of a light chain when slowly let fall into a coil. They 

 appear to sing only while on the wing, remaining often one-fourth 

 to half an hour hovering over nearly the same spot, and so high as 

 to be seen with great difficulty. They descend almost vertically, and 

 with a rapidity so great that the eye can scarcely follow them, until 

 within one or two hundred feet of the ground, when they scale off 

 obliquely, and often finally alight at a considerable distance from the 

 point over which they commenced to descend. When on the ground 

 they run rapidly through the grass, and are thus difficult to find, as 

 in attempting to flush them one never knows which way or where to 

 look for them. When mounting to sing they rise rapidly in a wide 

 spiral, with a bounding, very undulatory flight, and are thus soon out 

 of reach. 



The nest, as described by Audubon, is placed on the ground and 

 very neatly formed of fine dry grass. The only one found by me 

 was arched over, and being placed in a tuft of rank grass was most 

 thoroughly concealed. The bird would seem to be a close sitter, as 

 in this case the female remained on the nest till I actually stepped 

 over it, she brushing against my feet as she flew off". The eggs, five in 



lAm. Nat., Vol. vn, Nov., 1873, p. 697. 



