ORIOLES. 251 



brown and lilac, sometimes finely and faintly, though occa- 

 sionally with splashes. They are laid near Boston in the 

 latter part of May, though possibly a second set may be laid 

 later. 



c. During what are called the "open" winters, the 

 Meadow Larks may be found scattered throughout southern 

 New England, where they are common in summer even so 

 far to the northward as the White Mountains. Usually, 

 however, they appear in Massachusetts about the middle of 

 March, and they may then be found in almost every broad 

 meadow which is bordered by rising ground. Though they 

 often perch in tall trees and in bushes, yet they are most 

 often upon the ground, where, like the true Larks, they walk 

 and do not hop. They obtain their food, which consists of 

 insects and seeds, from meadows, fields, and occasionally 

 plowed land. They fly with a rapid but intermittent 

 quivering of their wings, usually near the ground, but not 

 unfrequently at a considerable height. They are, when 

 mated, very affectionate, often flying to meet one another, 

 or calling back and forth. They are also shy, rarely admit- 

 ting a near approach, and they frequently conceal their nest 

 by an arch of the long grass in which it is usually built. In 

 autumn, when collected in flocks, they are sometimes pursued 

 by gunners, from whom, I suppose, they have received the 

 name of " Marsh Quail," which is not altogether inappropri- 

 ate, since "they are generally considered, for size and del- 

 icacy, but little inferior to the quail." They are in the fall 

 even more shy than before, though in winter, at the South, 

 " they swarm among the rice plantations," says Wilson, " run- 

 ning about the yards and out-houses, accompanied by the 

 Killdeers,^^ with little appearance of fear, as if quite domes- 

 ticated." 



d. The Meadow Larks have a single rather shrill note or 

 whistle, another note which is much like that of the Night 

 " Hawk," a peculiar guttural chatter, and a plaintive whistle, 

 consisting of four or five notes (of which the first and third 

 are usually higher than those immediately succeeding, and the 



99 A kind of Plover. 



