8 »me Birds of Lewis Co, N, Y, 
0 . Hart Merriam 
■«: 
At my request, Mr. A. Jenings Dayan, one of our most careful, 
enthusiastic, and conscientious collectors, sends me the following 
notes concerning a few species found in the middle (Alleghanian) dis- 
trict of the county. When not otherwise stated, his observations 
pertain to the town of Lyon’s Falls, in the Black River Valley. 
“ Eremophila alpestris. Horned Lark. — A tolerably common spring 
migrant ; a few breed. Dr. C. P. Kirley of Lowville [middle district] 
has kindly given me this note on its breeding : ‘ I first observed Eremo- 
phila alpestris July 16, 1876, when I shot one two-thirds grown, and saw 
the parents. In the same locality, June 24, 1876, I noticed a pair of old 
birds, and on searching for their nest, I found it not more than eighteen 
inches from the main road. It contained three unfledged young. Since 
then I have both seen and taken it during the breeding season.’ 
| Regard- 
ing hst-ef- Dr. Coues, in his inexhaustible “ Birds of the 
Northwest ” (p. 39), says : “ East of the region above specified [from 
Iowa and Minnesota westward] the Horned Lark is not known to 
breed in the United States ; and the only record of its occurrence 
-- “'-mmor which I have seen, that given by Mr. Maynard, as 
qsau aqj 
W®1 a qs su apuuaj aqj pajnoas ajj 'iZ8I ‘ll aiaq uaqtq ‘priq etqj jo 
sSSa aAg pun jsau u pauiurexa aAuq j ‘qaniqg -jy y -jjy jo ssaupupf aqj 
qfinojqjj '^81 ‘fZ Jaquiajdag aprn jjnpu auq v joqs j — 'axiaHg avaH 
-naoaoq -[Auqaq aas ‘sapioro^tqnoxa ukaJ sniintoiAopni oirnpoo „ 
•jfjipsooj stqj ut aouai 
-rnooo sji jo pioaai iquo aqj ‘(i/,81 ‘SZ pur 61 saioads siqj jo oa\j 
uaqnj aAnq j — 'ha'imh \\\\ aassaNuaj, unLiSio.iad inhujdopjimuqopj 
guosuas “uipaarq aqj girunp jt uaquj pun uaas qjoq aAuq j uaqr 
aouig -guno/C paSpapuu aajqj pauiujuoo -pnor ureiu aqj iuojj saqout 
[Af 
<7 • 7 ?? - £ 4 ? - 
Getting outside the city we at once lost sight of Passer domesti- 
cus •, who has not yet betaken himself to the farm-houses, but 
almost immediately met with another recent addition to our birds 
which promises ere long to be as abundant in the countiy as the 
Sparrow is in the city. This is the Eremojohila aljoestris , 
Shore Lark. When I first made the acquaintance of this species 
twenty years ago, the few individuals obseived came and went 
with the Snowbirds, and kept always with them while heie. 
They were stout, well-developed birds, with the black and yel- 
low markings clear and decided. Some ten or twelve years 
since a new race made its appearance, smallei in size, the 
the colours paler, and having altogether a bleached, washed-out 
look about them when compared with the others. Ihese have 
remained permanently, and, increasing from year to year, have 
now become our most common winter resident in the countiy. 
They breed very early by the road sides and in the low commons 
everywhere, and at this season of the year are seen either run- 
ning in the road-tracks or sitting in rows of fifteen or twenty 
along the fences waiting till you pass that they may return to 
their regular feeding ground. 
BuH. N.0.0, S.Jtrly. X883,p. J */ 6~ 
ZO 
