BIRDS OF THE ARID PLAIN 93 



spicuous, and those on the tertials and middle tail- 

 feathers being arranged in narrow, isolated bars, and 

 not connected along the shaft. While the flanks and 

 under tail-coverts of magna are distinctly washed with 

 buff, those of neglecta are white, very faintly tinged 

 with buff, if at all. The yellow of the throat of the 

 eastern form does not spread out laterally over the 

 malar region, as does that of the western lark. All 

 of which tends to prove that the two forms are distinct. 

 Early in the spring of 1901 the writer took a trip to 

 Oklahoma in the interest of bird-study, and found both 

 kinds of meadow-larks extremely abundant and lavish 

 of their melodies on the fertile prairies. He decided to 

 carry on a little original investigation in the field of 

 inquiry now under discussion. One day, in a draw of 

 the prairie, he noticed a western meadow-lark which was 

 unusually lyrical, having the skill of a past-master in the 

 art of trilling and gurgling and fluting. Again and 

 again I went to the place, on the same day and on dif- 

 ferent days, and invariably found the westerner there, 

 perching on the fence or a weed-stem, and greeting me 

 with his exultant lays. But, mark : no eastern lark 

 ever intruded on his preserve. In other and more 

 distant parts of the broad field the easterners were 

 blowing their piccolos, but they did not encroach on 

 the domain of the lyrical westerner, who, with his mate 

 — now on her nest in the grass — had evidently jumped 



