Male with two erectile pointed tufts of feathers on the anterior
lateral parts of the head. In winter the upper parts dusky brown, the
feathers paler on the edges; on the forehead a recurved crescentic
band of brownish-black; another curved downwards, proceeding on each
side from the base of the upper mandible; a band of yellowish-white
over the eye and forehead; throat pale-yellow, with a broad dusky
patch on the lower neck, the rest of the lower parts brownish-white;
quills dusky, tail-feathers blackish, excepting the two middle, which
are reddish-brown, like the upper tail-coverts. In summer, the
brownish-black bands on the head and neck become deep black, the
throat and frontal band white, and the upper parts light brownish-red.
Female dusky brown above, dull white beneath; the wings and tail as in
the male, but the black bands on the head and neck wanting. Young from
the nest with the upper parts deep brown, mottled with pale
reddish-brown, lower parts pale yellowish-grey.
_Male_, 7-1/2, 14.
Breeds in Labrador and northwards. Migrates in autumn southward, as
far as the Texas. Not uncommon in the Western Country at that season.
Shore Lark, Alauda cornuta, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. i. p. 85.
Alauda alpestris, Bonap. Syn. p. 102.
Horned or Shore Lark, Alauda cornuta. Swains. & Rich. F. Bor.
Amer. v. ii. p. 245.
Shore Lark, Nutt. Man. v. i. p.
Shore Lark, Alauda alpestris, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 570;
v. v. p. 488.