8 HORNED LARKS IX RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 
in keeping with the artless character of the bird, being Little cups of 
grass placed in slight depressions in the ground. Two or even three 
broods are raised in a year, a fact which sufficiently explains the great 
numbers of the species in some localities. 
The flight of the horned larks is hesitant. They usually start hur- 
riedly from the ground, uttering short, whistled notes, and it is very 
characteristic of them that frequently when disturbed they fly straight 
away for a short distance, on]} T to swing around and alight near the 
starting point. In the mating season, however, they ascend to great 
heights and, like the skylark, sing while on the wing. The song is 
neither complex nor loud, but it is wild, joyous, and full of the free 
spirit of the prairie and the open fields. 
The birds thus characterized occur at some time of the year in all 
parts of North America, except the Aleutian Islands, the southern 
coastal portion of Alaska, extreme southeastern l/nited States, and 
Central America. This vast range is occupied by only one species. 
which, however, varies so greatly in different localities that it has been 
separated into no few r er than twenty-one varieties or subspecies." 
During the breeding season these geographic forms are restricted to 
separate areas, but in winter, on account of the tendency of the southern 
races to wander and of the northern ones to migrate, tin 4 subspecies 
mingle, and as many as svvvn (Arizona) or eight (California) forms 
occur in one State. In summer in the United States (including Alaska) 
there are fifteen subspecies of horned larks, and in winter seventeen. 
The several members of the family Alwudidae, which includes these 
forms, are interesting birds. Their habit of walking, instead of hop- 
ping, distinguishes them from many small ground birds. They have 
long hind claws, the prints of which in the snow or along the muddy 
shores of ponds often indicate where the larks have been running. 
They molt but once a year, usually in August, while many birds molt 
twice and a few three times. The nuptial dress is acquired not by 
molting, but by the wearing away of the tips of the winter feathers, 
revealing the brighter colors beneath. The plumage of the larks is 
generally neutral in tint, especially when viewed from above, and so 
harmonizes with their surroundings that it has a protective value, and 
enables the birds, in a measure, to escape the notice of enemies. 
GENERAL FOOD HABITS AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS. 
A preliminary report upon the food of the horned Larks, by Prof. 
Walter B. Barrows, formerly of the Biological Survey, was published 
in the Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for L892. it was based 
" For descriptions and ranges of the subspecific forms the reader is referred to II. C 
Oberholser'e 'Review of the Larks of the Genus Otocoris;' Proceedings of the CJ. 8.. 
Nat. Museum, Vol. XXIV, pp. 801-880, L902. 
