Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 
Horned Lark 
( Otocoris alpestris) Lark family 
Called also: SHORE LARK 
Length — 7. 5 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. 
Male — Upper parts dull brown, streaked with lighter on edges 
and tinged with pink or vinaceous; darkest on back of head, 
neck, shoulders, and nearest the tail. A few erectile feathers 
on either side of the head form slight tufts or horns that are 
wanting in female. A black mark from the base of the bill 
passes below the eye and ends in a horn-shaped curve on 
cheeks, which are yellow. Throat clear yellow. Breast has 
crescent-shaped black patch. Underneath soiled white, with 
dusky spots on lower breast. Tail black, the outer feathers 
margined with white, noticed in flight. 
Female — Has yellow eye-stripe; less prominent markings, espe- 
cially on head, and is a trifle smaller. 
Range — Northeastern parts of North America, and in winter 
from Ohio and eastern United States as far south as North 
Carolina. 
Migrations — October and November. March. Winter resident. 
Far away to the north in Greenland and Labrador this true 
lark, the most beautiful of its genus, makes its summer home. 
There it is a conspicuously handsome bird with its pinkish-gray 
and chocolate feathers, that have greatly faded into dull browns 
when we see them in the late autumn. In the far north only 
does it sing, and, according to Audubon, the charming song is 
flung to the breeze while the bird soars like a skylark. In the 
United States we hear only its call-note. 
Great flocks come down the Atlantic coast in October and 
November, and separate into smaller bands that take up their resi- 
dence in sandy stretches and open tracts near the sea or wher- 
ever the food supply looks promising, and there the larks stay 
until all the seeds, buds of bushes, berries, larvae, and insects in 
their chosen territory are exhausted. They are ever conspicu- 
ously ground birds, walkers, and when disturbed at their dinner, 
prefer to squat on the earth rather than expose themselves by 
flight. Sometimes they run nimbly over the frozen ground to 
escape an intruder, but flying they reserve as a last resort. When 
the visitor has passed they quickly return to their dinner. If they 
were content to eat less ravenously and remain slender, fewer 
134 
