The horned lark was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Alauda alpestris.

[2] Linnaeus based his account on the description and illustration by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands that was published between 1729 and 1732.

[10] Forty-two subspecies are recognized:[6] Unlike most other larks, this is a distinctive-looking species on the ground, mainly brown-grey above and pale below, with a striking black and yellow face pattern.

The southern European mountain race E. a. penicillata is greyer above, and the yellow of the face pattern is replaced with white.

In North America, where there are no other larks to compete with, it is also found on farmland, on prairies, in deserts, on golf courses and airports.

[15] The nest site is selected in the early spring by only the female and is either a natural depression in the bare ground or she digs a cavity using her bill and feet.

She weaves fine grasses, cornstalks, small roots, and other plant material and lines it with down, fur, feathers, and occasionally lint.

[16] This species’ decline could be contributed to the loss of habitat due to agricultural pesticides, the disturbed sites the birds prefer reverting to forested lands through reforestation efforts, urbanization and human encroachment as well as collisions at wind farms and at airports.

Fish and Wildlife Service listed the subspecies streaked horned lark as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.