“From Dr. T. C. Henry, of the U. S. Army, I learned that in the spring, large flocks of this species appear at Fort Thorne, apparently on their return to the North, having migrated southwardly the fall previous, and that they leave on the return of mild weather. In several flocks of these birds I noticed also the Shore Lark (Alanda alpestris), but it formed a small proportion of the numbers.”
The figures in our plate are about two-thirds of the size of life.
DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Genus Plectrophanes. Meyer, Taschenbuch der deutschen Vögelkunde III. p. 56. (1822.)
Bill short, conical, strong; nostrils basal, partially concealed; wing rather long; first, second, and third quills longest; tail moderate, or short, usually even at the end, or emarginate; legs and feet moderately strong; hind toe with the claw long, somewhat like that of the Larks (Alauda).
Plectrophanes McCownii. Lawrence, Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, VI. p. 122. (1851.)
Form. Bill very strong, wide, and somewhat tumid at base; wing long; secondaries emarginate; tertiaries longer than secondaries; second primary longest; tail rather short, slightly emarginate; legs moderate; hind claw long; coverts of the tail long.
Dimensions. Male.—Total length of skin, 5½ inches; wing, 3½; tail, 2¼ inches.
Colors. Male.—Head above, from the base of the bill, stripe on each side of the neck from lower mandible, and wide transverse band on the breast, black; lesser coverts of the wing chestnut; neck behind and body above dark brown and brownish-ashy, every feather with a central stripe of the former and edged with the latter; under-parts (except the breast) white, all the feathers, with a basal portion, ashy-black, particularly observable immediately below the black of the breast; quills brown, edged outwardly with yellowish cinereous, on their inner-webs with white; two central feathers of the tail brown, others white, tipped with brown; bill and feet light-colored. Female.—Entire plumage above dark brown and brownish-ashy; beneath white, tinged with dull yellowish on the throat and breast; no black on the head or breast.
Hab. California, New Mexico, Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington.