BIEDS OF NOETH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 857 



STURNELLA MAGNA MAGNA (Linnaeus). 

 MEADOWLARK. 



Admit male in summer. — Pileum with a narrow median stripe of 

 pale dull huffy or dull ))uffy white, separating two broad stripes of black, 

 streaked nari'owly with brown or brownish gray, these streaks some- 

 times obsolete on forehead; a broad superciliary stripe, lemon yellow 

 from nostril to above eye, the remaining portion dull buffy white; 

 a narrow postocular stripe of black; lores, malar region, and auricular 

 region dull grajdsh white, the last indistinctly streaked with grayish; 

 sides of neck dull grayish white, usually more or less tinged with 

 buff', narrowly streaked with })lack, the hindneck pale brownish butfy 

 with broader streaks of black; scapulars and interscapulars broadly 

 black medially, more or less broadly edged and tipped with brown 

 (wood brown, Isabella color, or sometimes almost cinnamon), ])ut this 

 passing on extreme edges and tip into buffy whitish or pale huff, 

 producing distinct narrow streaks; rump and upper tail-coverts huffy, 

 broadl}^ streaked with l)lack, these black streaks l)roader on upper 

 rump, those on upper tail-coverts with serrated margins; middle pair 

 of rectrices black medially, pale brownish gray or grayish brown 

 laterally, the Idack median portion more or less deeply serrated on 

 the margins, rarely forming isolated bars; second and third (sometimes 

 fourth) rectrices (counting from middle) with outer webs serrated 

 with pale brownish gray or grayish brown along edge, black next 

 to shaft, their inner wel)s chiefly dull black or dusky indistinctly 

 barred or serrated Avith paler; three outermost rectrices extensivel}" 

 white, the outermost (sometimes the one next to it also) almost entirely 

 white, and sometimes the fourth rectrix (counting from outside) with 

 more or less of white on inner web; lesser wing-coverts dusky centrally, 

 broadly margined with gray, those toward l)end of wing tinged with 

 yellow; middle coverts similar, hut with the broad gray margin more 

 brownish; greater coverts light buffy grayish brown (broccoli brown 

 or inclining to Isabella color), edged with paler, their inner webs 

 mostly uniform dusky and outer webs barred (but not entirely across) 

 with the same; secondaries similar in coloration to the greater coverts, 

 the tertials usually with the black forming a large central irregular 

 patch, but sometimes broken into regular and widely separated trans- 

 verse lines or bars; primaries dusky grayish, the outermost broadly 

 edged with white, the rest with outer webs broadl}^ and more or less ser- 

 rately edged with light grayish brown or gray; primary coverts similar 

 in coloration to primaries, but more edged with white; alulae black or 

 dusky margined with pale gray or grayish brown; chin whitish; throat, 

 breast, and abdomen bright lemon yellow; a broad crescent of black 

 on chest, the extremities of which are confluent with a black postmalar 

 spot; sides of breast white broadly streaked with black, the sides and 



