34 Vol. XXII 
| DESCRIPTION OF A NEW OTOCORIS FROM CALIFORNIA 
By HARRY C. OBERHOLSER 
HE determination of the breeding Horned Lark of the northern Sierra Ne- 
vada has always been a puzzling question. The present writer tentatively. 
referred birds from Summit, California, and Bald Mountain, Shasta Coun- 
tv, California, to Otocoris alpestris merrillt (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., xxiv, June 9, 
1902, pp. 835-836), but this identification was even at the time unsatisfactory, 
since they really much more closely resemble Otocoris alpestris strigata. Addi- 
tional material recently studied shows that these birds represent a new 
race of Otocoris alpestris, which we propose to call 
Otocoris alpestris sierrae, subsp. nov. 
Chars. subsp.—Similar to Otocoris alpestris actia, but upper parts darker: nape 
more cinnamomeous; back more blackish and more contrasted with neck; and posterior 
lower parts usually decidedly tinged with yellow. 
Description.—Type, adult male, no. 203534, U. S. Nat. Mus., Biological Survey col- 
lection; head of Pine Creek, Lassen County, California, June 13, 1906; A. S. Bunnell. 
Forehead and broad superciliary stripe, dull white, the former slightly washed with 
yellowish; crown and horns black; occiput and cervix between pecan brown and tawny, 
the former slightly darker; back and rump between mummy brown and fuscous, the 
feathers edged with sayal brown, cinnamon, and dull pinkish buff; shorter upper tail- 
coverts like the cervix, the long feathers cinnamon, their centers dark olive brown; mid- 
dle tail-feathers dull wood brown, their central portions dark olive brown; remainder 
of tail dull black, the outer edge of the terminal part of the outer web of the outer pair 
of rectrices dull white; wings grayish olive brown, the inner edges of the secondaries 
brownish white, the outer vanes of the quills margined with cinnamon and dull pink- 
ish buff, the exposed surface of the lesser and median wing-coverts, together with the 
outer edge of the greater coverts, like the cervix, but paler; a small spot behind each 
eye yellowish white; lores, and broad subocular stripe extended upward across the an- 
terior portion of the auriculars and also downward below the auriculars, black; middle 
portion of the auriculars yellowish white, the posterior part becoming olivaceous; chin and 
throat, colonial buff, this color posteriorly paler and spreading up behind the auriculars; 
sides of neck and of breast like the cervix; broad jugular crescent black; rest of lower 
parts dull white, the abdomen cartridge buff, the breast washed with colonial buff and 
flecked with the color of the cervix, and the sides sayal brown streaked with the color 
of the cervix; thighs sayal brown; lining of wing white. 
Measurements.—Male (eight specimens, from California): Wing, 94.5-105 (aver- 
age. 100.3) mm.; tail, 65-72 (68.3); exposed culmen, 10-12.2 (11.1); tarsus, 20-22.5 (21.3); 
middle toe without claw, 11-12.2 (11.7). 
Female (three specimens, from California): Wing, 89-95 (average, 92.7) mm.; 
tail, 64-68 (66); exposed culmen, 9.5-11 (10.2); tarsus, 20-21 (20.3); middle toe without 
claw, e225) (143 ye 
Geographic distribution.—Breeds in the region of the Sierra Nevada in Califor- 
nia, south to Placer County and north to Lassen. County. Winters also in the Sacra- 
mento Valley. 
Remarks.—This new race differs from Otocoris alpestris rubea, the range of 
which it approaches on the west, in its darker upper parts, more pinkish nape, which 
is more contrasted with the back, and in its more yellowish lower surface. It is smaller 
than Otocoris alpestris merrilli, and in the male has the nape much darker, more cin- 
namomeous or ruddy, the upper parts much more tawny or rufescent, and the lower - 
parts much more yellowish posteriorly. It is similar to Otocoris alpestris insularis, but 
is somewhat larger, and in the male is slightly more tawny above, although very close 
in the general color, and on the lower parts is more yellowish on the posterior portion. 
Also in fresh plumage it has less dusky spotting on the breast. In general appearance 
it is very much like Otocoris alpestris strigata, but is somewhat larger, with a rather 
wo 
