Mr. Allen found the Lark Bunting one of the few birds that seemed strictly confined to the arid plains near Fort Hays, in Kansas. He met with it in great abundance, but only on the high ridges and dry plateaus, where they seemed to live in colonies. He describes them as very wary, and very tenacious of life, often flying long distances, even after having been mortally wounded. They seemed to delight to fly in strong winds, when most other birds kept in shelter. They sing while on the wing, hovering in the wind and shaking the tail and legs after the well-known manner of the Yellow-breasted Chat. Its song seemed to him to strongly resemble that of the Chat, with which, at such times, its whole demeanor strikingly accorded.
Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds collected in the survey on the 32d parallel, states that he first observed these birds on approaching the Pimos villages. They were associated with large flocks of Sparrows, gleaning grain and grass-seed upon the ground. When started up they flew but a short distance before they resumed their occupation. After crossing the San Pedro he again found them in large flocks. At Fort Fillmore, in Mesilla Valley, it was also quite common and associated with the Cowbird and Blackbird, searching for grain among the stable offals. He again met with them in Texas, in the month of April, most of them still retaining their winter coat. He describes the tremulous fluttering motion of the wings with which the male accompanies its song while on the wing as very much after the manner of the Bobolink, and he speaks of their song as a disconnected but not an unmusical chant. He found their nests on the ground, made of fine grasses, lined with hair, and in one instance he found the eggs spotted with faint red dashes.
At Gilmer, in Wyoming Territory, their nests were found by Mr. Durkee built on the ground, and composed of dry grasses very loosely arranged. The eggs, four or five in number, are of a uniform and beautiful light shade of blue, similar to those of the Euspiza americana. They measure .90 by .70 of an inch, are of a rounded-oval shape, and, so far as I have observed, are entirely unspotted, although eggs with a few reddish blotches are said to have been met with.
Euspiza, Bonap. List, 1838. (Type, Emberiza americana, Gmelin.)
Euspina, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. (Same type.)
Euspiza americana, Bonap.
1459 ♂
Gen. Char. Bill large and strong, swollen, and without any ridges; the lower mandible nearly as high as the upper; as broad at the base as the length of the gonys, and considerably broader than the upper mandible; the edges much inflexed, and shutting much within the upper mandible; the commissure considerably angulated at the base, then decidedly sinuated. The tarsus barely equal to the middle toe; the lateral toes nearly equal, not reaching to the base of the middle claw; the hind toe about equal to the middle one without its claw. The wings long and acute, reaching nearly to the middle of the tail; the tertials decidedly longer than the secondaries, but much shorter than the primaries; first quill longest, the others regularly graduated. Tail considerably shorter than the wings, though moderately long; nearly even, although slightly emarginate; the outer feathers scarcely shorter. Middle of back only striped; beneath without streaks.
This genus comes nearer to Calamospiza, but has shorter tertials, more slender bill, weaker and more curved claws, etc.