SHORE LARK. ets 
years became exterminated. Col. Harris says of their introduction in 
this city, (.c.) ‘In the autunm of 1851, Mr. Bateham, on his return from 
England, brought a cage of the real English Skylarks, whick, after keep- 
ing a few weeks at his residence, near the Lunatic Asylum, were set at 
liberty in the grove back of that institution. They very shortly disap- 
peared entirely, and no doubt perished, either'in the severe winter which 
followed, or by the hand of the fowler.” 
GENUS EREMOPHILA. Boie. 
Bill shorter than the head, compressed. Nostrils circular. Primaries nine, the first ap- 
parently wanting. Wings long; tail medium, nearly square. A peculiar tuft of feathers 
over ear, like the ‘‘horns” of certain owls. 
EREMOPHILA ALPES?RIS (Forst.) Boie. 
Horned Lark; Shore Lark. 
Alauda alpestris, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 164, 183—ReAp, Proc. Philad. 
Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 1853, 395.—WHEATON, Field Notes, i, 1861, 92. 
Eremophila cornuta, BAIRD, P. R. R. Rep., ix, 1858, 405.—W HEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 
1860, 365, 375; Reprint, 1861, 7, 17. 
Eremophila alpestris, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1574, 563; Re- 
print, 1875, 3.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin,, 1877,4; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soe. 
Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 176; Reprint, 10. 
Alauda alpestris, LINNZUS, Sys. Nat., i, 1758, 166. 
Eremophila alpestris, Boi, Isis, 1822, 322. 
EKremophila cornuta, Boi, Isis, 1828, 322. 
In spring: Above, pinkish brown, brightest on rump, nape and wing coverts, thickly 
streaked with dusky ; below white, breasts and sides shaded with the color of the back; 
chin, throat, and superciliary line pale yellow, or yellowish-white ; a pectoral crescent, 
and curved stripe through the eye, black; tail black, outer feathers white-edged and 
middle ones like the back. Winter birds much duller above, the black markings obscure. 
Length, 7-74; wing, 44; tail, 22-3; tarsus, §; hind claw, 4-2; very slender and sharp. 
Habitat, Northern Hemisphere; in the Eastern United States, south in wintef to 
South Carolina. , 
Abundant winter resident. Arrives about the first of November and 
departs about the first of April. The first Shore-Larks to appear are soli- 
tary individuals who associate with the Tit-larks just before they depart 
southward. As soon as the first considerable snow appears, they arrive 
in force, frequenting fields and barnyards where cattle are fed, meadows, 
commons, old brick-yards, and the gravelly shores of streams. When 
their ordinary supply of food is cut off by a deep snow, they feed upon 
the seeds of the rag weed (Ambrosia), which projects above it. Should 
this fail they gather in the beaten roads, and there obtain a scant sus- 
tenance from offal. The flocks vary in size from those of a dozen to those 
of a hundred or more birds, usually from thirty to fifty are found in a 
