The Horned Lark 
211 
The flight-song of the Labrador Horned Lark 
Sprightly 
Notes 
They may be confused with the Pipit or the Vesper Sparrow be- 
cause of the white outer feathers of the tail; but the white in the tail of 
the Titlark and Vesper Sparrow is more noticeable, and the Horned 
Lark is much larger than either of those birds. As the bird flies over- 
head, the black tail with its white corners contrasts with the white belly. 
All this refers to the typical Horned Lark {Otocoris alpestris alpestris), 
a bird of the Northeast and Labrador ; but all Horned Larks resemble 
the type in their markings. There is a great variation, however, in the 
shades of the plumage. 
The ordinary call-note of the Horned Lark is very similar to that 
of the Pipit, but not so soft. Dr. C. W. Townsend writes it tsszvee it, 
tsszvt — a sibilant note. 
is described by Townsend and Allen as a series of 
squeaks and high notes, with a bit of a fine trill, the 
bird beginning his song when high in air and ending 
it there. The Prairie Horned Lark seems to be the best singer of 
them all. Its common song is a sprightly little ditty, with no consider- 
able resonance or modulation. Dawson expresses its proportions and 
tempo by the syllables, tzvidgc-zvidge, zvigity zvigy-zvidgc, while the words 
tzvidge, zmgity, eelooy, eelooy, idgity, eelogy e c zv, serve the same pur- 
pose for the rarer ecstasy-song, which is sometimes given on the ground, 
but usually in air. 
The nest is built in a hollow dug in the ground or sunk in the moss, 
and is so deeply hollowed that the back of the sitting bird comes level 
with the surface. It is built chiefly of dried grasses, and that of the 
Desert variety has a curious '‘paving” of chips, etc., about it, described 
by Henry Mausley, in The Ank, July, 1916. The Prairie Horned Lark 
begins her nest early in March or April, by digging a hole about three 
inches wide and nearly as deep. This is lined to a depth of nearly an 
inch with dry grass, and the top is usually left level with the surface. 
The eggs, from three to five, are about one inch in length and from 
.60 to .75 inch in diameter. They are variable in color, but are 
usually profusely and heavily marked with brownish gray or dark stone- 
jgray upon greenish bronze. When the eggs are nearing the end of the 
incubating period, the bird sits so closely as almost to allow the intruder 
to step upon her back. 
Audubon found the Horned Lark breeding in high and desolate 
tracts of Labrador near the sea, on dark rocks covered 
with mosses and lichens, where its protective coloring. Nesting 
as it sat on the nesp was quite as effective as it is 
among the pastures of New England, or on the broad and breezy western 
prairies. 
As the young approach maturity they outgrow the nest, and when it 
will contain them no longer they leave it, usually several days or a week 
before they are able to fly; after which they wander about over the 
ground, and the parents continue to feed them for two or three weeks. 
