The Bird Book Part 62

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469.1. GRAY FLYCATCHER. _Empidonax griseus._

Range.--Lower California, north to southern California.

This is a slightly larger species than the preceding and is grayish above and paler below, with little or no tinge of brownish or yellow. As far as I can learn its eggs have not yet been taken.

470a. BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. _Empidonax fulvifrons pygmaeus._

Range.--Western Mexico, north to southern New Mexico and Arizona.

This small bird, which is but 4.75 inches in length, is brownish gray above and brownish buff below. It is not a common species anywhere, but is known to nest during June or July, on high mountain ranges, saddling its nest of fibres, covered with lichens, on horizontal boughs at quite an elevation from the ground. The eggs are pale buffy white, unspotted, and measure .60 .50.

471. VERMILLION FLYCATCHER. _Pyrocephalus rubinus mexica.n.u.s._

Range.--Mexico, north regularly to southern Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.

This is one of the most gaudy attired of all North American birds, being brownish gray on the back, wings and tail, and having a bright vermillion crown, crest and underparts. They are quite common in southern Texas, but far more abundant in the southern parts of Arizona.

Their habits do not differ from those of other Flycatchers, they living almost exclusively upon insects. The majority of their nests can not be distinguished from those of the Wood Pewee, being covered with lichens and saddled upon limbs in a similar manner, but some lack the mossy ornamentation. Their three or four eggs are buffy, boldly blotched with dark brown and lavender, chiefly in a wreath about the middle of the egg; size .70 .50. Data.--San Pedro River, Arizona, June 10, 1899.

Nest in the fork of a willow about 20 feet above the stream. Collector, O. W. Howard.

472. BEARDLESS FLYCATCHER. _Camptostoma imberbe._

Range.--Central America; north casually to the Lower Rio Grande in Texas.

This strange little Flycatcher, several specimens of which have been taken in the vicinity of Lomita, Texas, is but 4.5 inches in length, grayish in color and has a short bill, the upper mandible of which is curved. It has all the habits peculiar to Flycatchers. Their eggs have not as yet been found as far as I can learn.

[Ill.u.s.tration 298: Vermillion Flycatcher.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Buff.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]

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LARKS. Family ALAUDIDae

473. SKYLARK. _Alauda arvensis._

Range.--Old World, straggling casually to Greenland and Bermuda.

This noted foreigner has been imported and liberated a number of times in this country, but apparently is not able to thrive here, a fact which will not cause much regret when we remember the experiment with the English Sparrow. They are abundant in Europe and Great Britain where they nest on the ground in cultivated fields or meadows, laying from three to five grayish eggs, marked with brown, drab and lavender.

474. HORNED LARK. _Otocoris alpestris alpestris._

Range.--Eastern North America, breeding in Labrador and about Hudson Bay; winters in eastern United States south to Carolina.

This variety of this much sub-divided species is 7.5 inches in length, has brownish gray upper parts and is white below with black patches on the breast and below the eye, yellowish throat and small black ear tufts. The various subspecies are all marked alike, their distinction being based upon slight differences in size, variations in the shade of the back, or the greater or less intensity of the yellowish throat and superciliary stripe. The nesting habits of all the varieties are the same and the eggs differ only in the shade of the ground color, this variation among the eggs of the same variety being so great that an egg cannot be identified without knowing the locality in which it was taken.

The present variety build their nests on the ground generally under tufts of gra.s.s or in hollows in the moss which is found in their breeding range, making them of dried gra.s.ses and generally lining them with feathers. The eggs are grayish with a slight greenish tinge, and are specked and spotted over the whole surface with drab, brownish and dark lavender. The eggs of this and the next variety average considerably larger than those of the more southerly distributed varieties; size .92 .65.

474a. PALLID HORNED LARK. _Otocoris alpestris arcticola._

Range.--Breeds in Alaska and winters south to Oregon and Montana.

This is the largest of the Horned Larks and has the throat white, with no trace of yellow. Its nest is built in similar locations and the eggs are like those of the preceding species.

[Ill.u.s.tration 299: Grayish.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Horned Lark.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

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474b. PRAIRIE HORNED LARK. _Otocoris alpestris praticola._

Range.--Breeds in the Mississippi Valley from Illinois north to Manitoba and east to the Middle States; winters south to Carolina and Texas.

This sub-species is considerably smaller than the Horned Lark, and the throat is paler yellow, while the line over the eye and the forehead is white. They are the most abundant and have the most extended range of any of the better known species. In the Mississippi Valley, where they are of the most common of the nesting birds, they build on the ground in meadows or cultivated fields, and very often in cornfields; the nests are made of gra.s.ses and lined with horse hairs or feathers, and placed in slight hollows generally under a tuft of gra.s.s or sods. They raise two broods a season and sometimes three, laying the first set of eggs in March and another in June or July. The three or four eggs have an olive buff ground and are thickly sprinkled with drab and lavender; size .83 .60.

474c. DESERT HORNED LARK. _Otocoris alpestris leucolaema._

Range.--Plains of western United States, east of the Rockies and west of Kansas and Dakota; breeds north to Alberta, and winters south to Mexico, Texas and southern California.

This species is like _praticola_, but paler on the back; nest and eggs the same.

474d. TEXAS HORNED LARK. _Otocoris alpestris giraudi._

Range.--Coast of southeastern Texas.

A pale variety like _leucolaema_, but smaller; throat bright yellow, and breast tinged with yellow. Nest and eggs like those of the others.

474e. CALIFORNIA HORNED LARK. _Otocoris alpestris actia._

Range.--Lower California and southern California.

This bird is similar to the last but the yellow areas are brighter, and the nape and back are ruddy.

474f. RUDDY HORNED LARK. _Otocoris alpestris rubea._

Ranges--Sacramento Valley, California.