pon 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 x .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.

[Illustration 298: Vermillion Flycatcher.]
[Illustration: Buff.]
[Illustration: deco.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]

Page 297

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 identifie