BIRD BIOGRAPHIES 



Flight: Direct, yet fluttering; usually away from the observer, 

 showing the brown back and white tail-feathers, as 

 though the bird was conscious of its bright yellow 

 breast. 



Habitat: Cultivated meadows, and grassgrown fields, espe- 

 cially one containing a running brook for drinking 

 and bathing. Its fondness for unmown fields has 

 given it the name of "Old Field Lark." ^ 



Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from eastern Minne- 

 sota and southern Canada, south to northern Texas, 

 Missouri, and North Carolina, and west to western 

 Iowa, eastern Kansas, and northwestern Texas; 

 winters regularly from southern New England 

 and Ohio valley south to the Gulf States, and 

 north locally to the Great Lakes and southern 

 Maine. 



In the South, from southern Illinois, southwestern 

 Indiana and North Carolina to the coast of Texas, 

 Louisiana, and southern Florida is found the south- 

 ern MEADOWLARK, smaller and darker than the 

 northern species, and with a different song. 



In the West, from British Columbia to Manitoba 

 and south to southern California, northern Mexico, 

 and Texas is the v^estern meadowlark, similar to 

 its eastern relative in habits and plumage, but very 

 different as to song. Its pure, sweet, liquid notes 

 are among my most delightful memories of western 

 birds. 



IT is fortunate that no human being or bird is pos- 

 sessed of all the virtues and charms, and that every 

 individual may hold his own place in our interest and 

 affections. As the spring migrants arrive, each receives 

 a welcome peculiarly his own. 



2 Farmers' Bulletin 755, Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



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