THE MEADOWLARK 



Called also Field Lark and Old Field Lark 



American Blackbird Family — Icteridce 



Length: About 10% inches, a little larger than the robin; 



bill l|o inches. 

 General Appearance: A large brown bird, with a short tail 

 that shows conspicuous white feathers at each side 

 in flight. The bright yellow breast crossed by a 

 black crescent is less frequently seen. 

 Male and Female: Upper parts dark brown, mottled with 

 black and buff; head striped, with a light line 

 through the center and a yellow line over each eye, 

 alternating with two dark stripes; cheeks gray; 

 throat, breast, and belly yellow; a V-shaped band 

 on breast; sides and lower part of belly whitish, 

 streaked with black; bill long and sharp; tail short, 

 (about 3 inches) ; outer tail-feathers almost entirely 

 white; middle feathers brown, barred with black. 

 Call-note: A sharp nasal Yerk, and a twitter that sounds like 



a succession of rapid sneezes. 

 Song: A loud, clear, sweet refrain that usually consists of 

 four syllables, but sometimes of five or six. It has 

 been interpreted in various ways as follows: 



Spring' -of — the-y^e'-a-r ! 



I love — you d-e-a-r. 



I'm Mead'-ow-lar'-rk. 



Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson tells of a lazy darky down 

 South who interpreted the lark's song as 



"Laziness-will kill' you." ^ 



1 From Educational Leaflet No. 3 — National Association of Audubon 

 Societies. 



[123] 



