282 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSEBES — OSCINES. 
and whole throat white or sulphury-yellow. Bill plumbeous-blackish, bluish-plumbeous at 
base below (sometimes there yellowish) ; feet and claws black ; iris brown. Length of ^ , 
7.00-7.50; extent 13.00-14.00; wing 4.25-4.50; tail 2.75-8.00; bill, from extreme base of 
culmen, 0.40-0.50; tarsus 0.88-0.90 ; middle toe and claw rather less; hind claw about 0.50, 
usually longer than its digit, but very variable. 9 commonly smaller than the ^ ; length 
6.75-7.25 ; extent 12.75-18.25 ; wing about 4.00, etc. ^ 9 , adult, in winter: As usually 
seen in most of the United States in the fall, winter, and early spring, differ from the above in 
more sordid coloration of the upper parts, which may be simply grayish-brown, heavily streaked 
with dusky, even on the crown, with little or none of the "■ pinkish " tints ; and in lack or re- 
striction of the black markings of the head and breast, or their being veiled with whitish tips 
of the individual feathers ; nevertheless, the sulphury tinge of the white parts about the head is 
usually very conspicuous. Fledglings have the upper parts dusky, mixed with some yellowish- 
brown, and sprinkled all over with whitish or light tawny dots, each feather having a terminal 
speck. Most of the wing- and tail-feathers have rusty, tawny, or whitish edging and tipping. 
The under parts are white, mottled with the colors of the upper parts along the sides and across 
the back ; no traces of definite black markings about the head and breast, nor any yellow 
tinge. Bill and feet pale or yellowish. This peculiar speckled stage is of brief duration ; with 
an early autumnal change, a dress, little if at all different from that of the adults in winter, is 
acquired. Nesting begins very early in April, or even in March, sometimes before the snow is 
gone, and frequently other broods are reared through the summer; nest of grasses, etc., sunken 
in the ground; eggs very variable in tone, but always profusely and heavily marked with 
brownish-gray or dark stone-gray upon a grayish or greenish-white ground ; in some cases 
the whole surface nearly uniform. Northern hemisphere at large ; in America, chiefly north- 
ern and eastern parts, breeding from the Northern States northward, common in flocks in the 
U. S. in winter; chiefly replaced in the West by the following varieties. 
83. E. a. leucolae'ma. (Gr. Xevxos, leukos, white; \aifi6s, laimos, throat.) Western Shore 
Lark. Size of the foregoing. General coloration extremely pale — brownish-gray, the 
peculiar pinkish tint of certain parts sharing the general pallor. Black markings on head and 
breast much restricted in extent, and white surroundings correspondingly increased — thus, the 
black post-frontal bar scarcely or not broader than the white of the forehead. No yellow about 
head, excepting usually a shght tinge on the chin. Changes of plumage parallel with those 
already given ; even the nestlings show the same decided pallor. Prairies of Western U. S., 
breeding everywhere north of about 40° ; very abundant. 
84. E. a. chrysolae'ma. (Gr. ;YP'^<^fos'? c/^mseos, golden; Xaifios, lawios, throat) South-west- 
ERN Shore Lark. Smaller than the foregoing : ^ with the wing scarcely or not 4.00, and 
other dimensions to correspond ; a very small 
specimen, probably 9 » has the wing only 3.50 ; 
in another, marked ^, it is 8.75. The "pink- 
ish " tinge intensified into cinnamon-brown, and 
pervading nearly all the upper parts ; yellow of 
head intensified ; black markings very heavy, — 
the black on the crown widened to occupy more 
than half the cap, reducing the white frontlet to 
a mere trace. Southwestern U. S. and Mexico, 
breeding mostly south of 40° ; abundant. 
12. Subfamily ALAUDIN>E: Sky.Larks. 
Represented in America by one species, a 
Fig. 155. — Sky-Lark, reduced. (From Dixon.) straggler from the Old World. Fig. 155. 
28. ALAU'DA. (Lat. alauda, a lark; supposed Celtic al, high, and aud, song.) Sky-Larks. 
