It is easy to confuse this Crow with the ordinary species, the only marks of identification being its inferior size and different call. It frequents the shore chiefly, and may be seen here on its arrival in early spring, before the Gulls have left, clamming on the mud flats and sand-bars of the creeks that run into Long Island Sound. These Crows seem to tread for the long-necked clams as people do, and then dislodge them with a blow from their strong beaks, breaking the shell in the same manner, and tearing out the contents with the aid of their claws. In winter I have seen the common Crows flock to the beach and procure shell-fish in the same way. The Fish Crow is said, by Audubon, to catch fish like the Osprey, and flocks were seen by him sailing through the air, above the St. John's River, Florida, the aerial exeursion lasting for hours, after which the Crows would turn their attention to fishing for half an hour, and then alight in the trees to plume themselves.
Horned Lark: Octocoris alpestris.
Shore Lark.
- Length:
- 7-7.50 inches.
- Male:
- Upper parts brown with a pinkish cast, most marked on neck and rump. Black crescent on breast; black bar in front of head, extending to side of head, forming two tufts or horns; frontlet, throat, and neck pale yellowish; below whitish, streaked with black; bill dark; feet black.
- Female:
- Paler and somewhat smaller.
- Song:
- Only a call note here, but a charming song in the breeding-haunts.
- Season:
- Winter resident along shore; October to April.
- Breeds:
- In March and April in boreal regions, and raises two broods
a season.
- Nest:
- Of grass, in ground hollow.
- Eggs:
- Variable, greenish white or gray, heavily marked with dark gray.
- Range:
- Northeastern North America, Greenland, and northern part of the Old World; in winter south in the eastern United States to the Carolinas, Illinois, etc.
180
