148 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1897. 



aud adds that " we did not obtain var. neglecta, although it is un- 

 doubtedly common." 6 



Dr. J. C. Merrill states that the summer Meadow Lark at Ft. 

 Brown has been identified by Mr. Ridgway as typical mexicana. 

 " Its notes and habits do not differ essentially from those of magna. 

 Abundant from April until October." A foot note by Mr. Ridg- 

 way states that the two specimens examined by him were obtained 

 at Ft. Brown, August 21 and September 13, 1877, and agree ex- 

 actly with Mexican examples. " They are easily distinguished from 

 true magna by smaller general size, including the bill, and much 

 longer legs and feet." 



Becham states that all the birds taken or seen by him at Corpus 

 Christi, San Antonio and Beeville (December, 1886, March, 1887) 

 were typical neglecta, 1 while Hancock states that magna was com- 

 mon at Corpus Christi, but apparently the only bird shot proved to 

 be neglecta ; nevertheless he says that the song of the bird was 

 much shorter and more feeble in its utterance than magna. 8 Rhoads 9 

 says that he examined a Meadow Lark in the flesh at Corpus 

 Christi (June, 1891) which was undoubtedly magna, and that three 

 larks observed during several weeks previous in the same vicinity 

 had the song of magna. 



In view of these statements the simplest explanation seems to be 

 that while two forms of Meadow Lark are present in winter in the 

 Rio Grande Valley, neglecta does not breed there and that the resi- 

 dent bird has a song resembling that of magna. Its identity with 

 mexicana as claimed by Mr. Ridgway (I. c.) I cannot endorse 

 from an examination of the series before me. AVhile these birds 

 doubtless are identical with examples from Northern Mexico just 

 across the Rio Grande River, they are strikingly different from spe- 

 cimens from Southern Mexico, the type locality of mexicana. 



A careful comparison of a large series of specimens shows that 

 the Meadow Lark of the Rio Grande Valley is as light or lighter 

 than the lightest neglecta, averaging very similar to this form in the 

 coloration of the upper surface but agreeing with magna in the dis- 

 tribution of the )^ellow below. The birds from Mexico on the other 

 hand represent the darkest coloration exhibited by Sturnella. To 



6 Bull. U. S. Geogr. and Geol. Survey, 1878, p. 24. 



7 Proc. U. S. N. M., 1887, p. G70. 



8 Bull. Ridgway Orn. Club, II, 1887, p. 18. 

 '-•Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1892, p. 108. 



