Eremophila alpestris
Order Passeriformes
Family Alaudidae
♂ Adult male.— Forehead and patch back of eye yellow; “horns,” or tufts of feathers projecting backward from the head, black; front and sides of crown, line from bill under eye along sides of throat and band across upper breast black; back of head, back, and rump pinkish-brown; tail dark, outer pair of feathers edged with white; throat yellow; belly white, sides pinkish-brown.
♀ Adult female.— Similar to male, but decidedly smaller, the black much less pronounced; the pink tinge often wanting; throat duller.
Nest, a gray cup, lined with down, placed in fork from five to thirty feet up.
Eggs, white.
The Shore Lark is a common winter visitant along the seacoast from October to April; small flocks occasionally occur inland. Shore Larks feed in flocks along the flats left bare by the tide, and on the fields and hillsides, within sound of the surf.
Their notes are shrill, resembling the syllables tsée, tsée-de-ree; it is hard to distinguish them from those of the Titlark [American Pipit], which may be found in the same localities in fall and spring, but not in winter. They are restless birds, flying high when disturbed, and passing back and forth from one hill to another, so that their notes are often heard high in air. On the ground they run or walk; in the air their wings look long and pointed. The “horns” show as little tufts of elongated feathers projecting backward on each side of the head.
The females are smaller, the yellow of their throats is duller, but they may be distinguished at very close range from the inland Prairie Horned Lark by the white eyebrow of the latter. Shore Larks are often associated with Snow Buntings, but may be known by their heavy square-shouldered build, the yellow throat, and the black markings which include it.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)