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The Horned Lark 
While the young are still in the nest the mother is very secretive about 
feeding them. She never flies to the nest when she apprehends danger, 
but always alights at a distance, zigzags up to the nest, creeps to it, feeds 
the young very quickly, and then steals away. The little ones in their 
first plumage are covered with light spots. 
The Horned Larks are ground-birds. Although sometimes one 
alights upon a stump-root, fence-post, or rail, they rarely have been 
seen in trees. 
In October, or when the chill winds of November blow. Horned 
Larks from the north begin to appear in the United States. They come 
down from Labrador and the fur countries and become common along the 
Atlantic seaboard, usually in small straggling flocks. The members of a 
flock keep company like a hen and chickens, the old birds leading. 
Sometimes as many as one hundred or more may consort together. 
In the East they frequent freshly ,ploughed fields, marshes, mead- 
ows, stubble-fields, and weedy places along the coast, sometimes going 
to the higher pastures. When snow comes they search for food along 
the shore, on bare spaces in roads, or near barns and haystacks. In 
winter they are sometimes seen in the interior with flocks of Snowflakes. 
In autumn and winter they are rather silent ; and when feeding they 
keep close to the ground, where they creep about, , 
picking up seeds. They are adepts at hiding, squatting 
low behind weeds or clumps of grass. The scattered 
flocks fly with an undulating motion., and when startled often rise, fly ' 
off, and then turn about and alight near the point from which they started. , 
In the West, they live in desert- valleys, on barren table-lands and 
level prairies, and also among highlands and upon bare mountain-peaks. 
W. L. McAtee of the United States Geological Survey, in his bul- 
letin on “The Horned Larks and Their Relation to Agriculture,’’ states I 
that two fifths or less of their food consists of insects, and four fifths i 
of vegetable matter. The quantity of grain taken is insignificant except ' 
in California, where these birds seem to be largely vegetarian. I 
The Horned Larks are interesting birds. They readily adapt them- | 
selves to farm-conditions, and are distinctly beneficial to agriculture. 
They should be protected by law at all times. 
Winter 
Habits 
Classification and Distribution 
The Horned Lark belongs to the order Passcrcs, Suborder Oscmcs and 
Family Alaudidcu. Its scientific name is, Otocoris alpestris. The range of the 
species includes all North America, Central and northern South America, northern 
Asia, Europe and northern Africa. Fourteen geographical races have been named 
as subspecies in North America alone, indicating unusual variability in this) bird. 
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