(_Otocoris alpestris_) Lark family
_Called also_: SHORE LARK
(Illustration facing p. 138)
_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,
especially 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 residence in sandy
stretches and open tracts near the sea or wherever the food supply
looks promising, and there the larks stay until all the seeds, buds of
bushes, berries, larvA|, and insects in their chosen territory are
exhausted. They are ever conspicuously 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 victims might be slaughtered annually to tickle the
palates of the epicure. It is a mystery what they find to fatten upon
when snow covers the frozen ground. Even in the severe midwinter
storms they will not seek the protection of the woods, but always
prefer sandy dunes with their scrubby undergrowth or open meadow
lands. Occasionally a small flock wanders toward the farms to pick up
seeds that are blown from the hayricks or scattered about the
barn-yard by overfed domestic fowls.
* * * * *
The Prairie Horned Lark (_Otocoris alpestris praticola_) is similar to
the preceding, but a trifle smaller and paler, with a white instead of
a yellow streak above the eye, the throat yellowish or entirely white
instead of sulphur-yellow, and other minor differences. It has a far
more southerly range, confined to northern portions of the United
States from the Mississippi eastward. Once a distinctly prairie bird,
it now roams wherever large stretches of open country that suit its
purposes are cleared in the East, and remains resident. This species
also sings in midair on the wing, but its song is a crude,
half-inarticulate affair, barely audible from a height of two hundred
feet.
[Illustration: FLICKER]
[Illustration: MEADOWLARK]