Color Key to North American Birds Part 61

Range.--Not well determined; known from Corpus Christi, Texas, west along Mexican boundary to southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico.

=501b. Western Meadowlark= (_S. m. neglecta_). Similar to No. 501, but bars on middle tail-feathers usually distinct, _not_ confluent along shaft; yellow of throat spreading on to its sides; general color paler. _Notes._ Calls, a liquid _chuck_ and a wooden, rolling _b-r-r-r-r-r-r-r_; song, rich, musical, flute-like with intricate gurgles and grace notes; wholly unlike that of No. 501.

=501c. Florida Meadowlark= (_S. m. argutula_). Similar to No. 591, but smaller and darker; W. 4.4.

Range.--Florida and Gulf coast to Louisiana.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 514.]

=514. Evening Grosbeak= (_Hesperiphona vespertina_).

L. 8. _Ad._ [Male]. Brownish yellow; wings, tail, and crown black; exposed part of tertials white. _Ad._ [Female]. Dingy brownish gray, more or less tinged with yellowish; throat and belly whitish; _tail-coverts_ and tail-feathers, on inner web, tipped with white.

_Notes._ Call, loud; song, short, but melodious, resembling that of Robin or Black-headed Grosbeak. (Cooper.)

Range.--Rocky Mountain region of British America, south, in winter, to the upper Mississippi Valley, rarely to Ohio and casually through New York to New England.

=514a. Western Evening Grosbeak= (_H. v. montana_). [Male] not distinguishable from [Female] of No. 514; [Female] more buffy, especially below.

Range.--Mountains of western United States from New Mexico north to British Columbia.

EASTERN HORNED LARKS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 474.]

=474[A]. Horned Lark= (_Otocoris alpestris_). L. 7.7, W. [Male], 4.3; [Female], 4.1. Hind toe-nail much the longest. _Ad._ [Male], _winter_.

Throat and line over eye distinctly _yellow_; black feathers over eye lengthened, forming when raised little tufts; breast-patch, sides of throat, line over eye and forecrown black, more or less tipped, especially on head, with yellowish or brownish; back brownish indistinctly streaked with blackish; nape, wing and tail-coverts pinkish brown; belly white, lower breast dusky, sides pinkish brown; tail mostly black, outer margin of outer feathers white. [Male], _summer_. Yellow areas whiter; black areas more distinct; back pinker.

_Ad._ [Female], _winter_. Similar to [Male], but throat and line over eye less yellow; black areas smaller; back more distinctly streaked.

[Female], _summer_. More distinctly streaked above. _Notes._ Call, a _tseep_, _tseep_; song, an unmusical, twittering warble sung during soaring flight.

[A] Fourteen subspecies of this wide-ranging, variable form are now recognized in America, north of Mexico. Many of them are too closely related to be distinguished even by detailed descriptions. When breeding, they may be identified, in life, by a knowledge of the area which each form alone inhabits at this season. But during their migrations, and in winter, when several forms may be a.s.sociated, it is usually not possible to identify them in the field. The reader is referred to admirable monographs of this group by J. Dwight, Jr. (The Auk, vii, 1890, pp. 138-150), and H. C. Oberholser (Proc. U. S.

Nat. Mus., xxiv, 1902, pp. 801-884).

Range.--Eastern North America; breeds in Labrador and region east of Hudson Bay; winters south to South Carolina (chiefly on coast) and in the Mississippi Valley to Illinois.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 474b.]

=474b. Prairie Horned Lark= (_O. a. praticola_). W. [Male] 4; [Female], 3.8. Line over eye _white_. Similar to No. 474, but smaller, line over eye and forehead generally white, the throat often white and never so yellow as in winter specimens of No. 474.

Range.--Breeds in the Mississippi Valley, south to southern Illinois and Missouri west to eastern Nebraska and a.s.siniboia; east through northwestern Pennsylvania and central New York to western and northern New England; north to Quebec and Ontario; winters south to South Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas.

=474d. Texan Horned Lark= (_O. a. giraudi_). W. [Male] 3.9; [Female], 3.6. Similar to No. 474b, but somewhat smaller and paler; throat, forehead and line over eye yellow; _breast, in males, generally tinged with yellow_.

Range.--Coast of Texas from Galveston to the Rio Grande.

NORTHERN HORNED LARKS.

=474a. Pallid Horned Lark= (_O. a. arcticola_). W. [Male], 4.4; [Female], 4.2. Largest of our Horned Larks; _no yellow_ in plumage; throat, forehead and line over eye white; back brown with grayish edgings.

Range.--"In summer, Alaska (chiefly in the interior) with the Valley of the Upper Yukon River; in winter south to Oregon, Utah, and Montana." (Oberholser.)

=474k. Hoyt Horned Lark= (_O. a. hoyti_). W. [Male], 4.4; [Female], 4.2. Throat tinged with yellow; line over eye white; back darker, pink areas richer than in 474a. An intermediate form between Nos. 474 and 474a.

Range.--"In summer, British America from the west sh.o.r.e of Hudson Bay to the Valley of the Mackenzie River, north to the Arctic Coast, south to Lake Athabasca; in winter, southward to Nevada, Utah, Kansas, and Michigan, casually to Ohio and New York (Long Island)." (Oberholser.)

WESTERN HORNED LARKS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 474c.]

=474c. Desert Horned Lark= (_O. a. leucolaema_). W. [Male], 4.1; [Female], 3.8. Forehead and line over eye very slightly, often not at all, tinged with yellow; throat yellow; back brown edged with pinkish gray; resembles No. 474b, but is paler and less distinctly streaked above.

Range.--"In summer, western United States from central Dakota, western Kansas and western Nebraska to Idaho and Nevada, north on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains to Alberta; in winter, south to Texas, Chihuahua, Sonora, and southeastern California." (Oberholser.)

=474e. California Horned Lark= (_O. a. actia_). W. [Male], 3.9; [Female], 3.6. [Male], _summer_. Back of head and nape, spreading on to sides of breast, pinkish cinnamon; back distinctly streaked with brownish black; throat always, forehead and line over eye usually tinged with yellow. [Male], _winter_. Less distinctly streaked above; cinnamon areas paler and with grayish tips; black areas more or less tipped with yellowish. [Female], _summer_. Crown and back uniformly streaked with blackish margined with pinkish gray. [Female], _winter_.

Less distinctly streaked; black areas tipped with whitish.

Range.--Northern Lower California north, west of the Sierra, to Marin and San Joaquin Counties, California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 474f.]

=474f. Ruddy Horned Lark= (_O. a. rubea_). Similar to No. 472e, but nape region, sides of breast, etc., much deeper in color, deeper than in any other of our Horned Larks; back less distinctly streaked with blackish and more ruddy in tone, _not_ sharply defined from nape; yellow areas richer in color.

Range.--Sacramento County, California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 474g.]

=474g. Streaked Horned Lark= (_O. a. strigata_). Cinnamon areas less extensive but nearly as deeply colored as in No. 474f; back _distinctly and widely_ streaked with blackish; forehead, line over eye, throat and _breast_ washed with yellow.

Range--"In summer, the states of Oregon and Was.h.i.+ngton west of the Cascade Mountains; in winter, to eastern Oregon and Was.h.i.+ngton, south to northern California." (Oberholser.)

=474h. Scorched Horned Lark= (_O. a. adusta_). W. [Male], 4; [Female], 3.8. Nearest to No. 474l, but the male differs in being nearly uniform pinkish brown above, back with only a few indistinct brownish streaks; color deeper, browner, more ruddy.

Range.--"In summer, the central part of extreme southern Arizona; in winter, northern Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico." (Oberholser.)

=474i. Dusky Horned Lark= (_O. a. merrilli_). W. [Male], 4; [Female], 3.8. Similar to No. 474b, but somewhat darker above, the line over the eye usually tinged with yellow.