STUENELLA MAGNA, MEADOW-LAE.K. 191 



e. meridionalis. 

 (South America.) 



Sturnellu hidoviciana, (?) Scl. P. Z. S. 185G, 29, 142.— (?) Lawr., Anu. Lye. ix, 18G8, 104. 

 StiirueUa rneridiouaUs, ScL., Ibis, 1861, 179.— Cass., Pr. Pliila. Acad. 186G, 24. 

 Sturnella magna var. meridionaJis, B. B. &: K., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 172. 



Rah.— The typical form in Eastern North America to Nova Scotia, and north to 53°. 



shade into var. nerjlecta, which readies its maximum departure on the dry central 

 plains. Individuals indistinguishable from typical magna in Kansas, Iowa, and East- 

 ern Dakota, and reappearing on the moist Pacific coast. Individuals like ncfjlceta 

 occur in Pennsylvania. Extralimital races, all inseparably connected, are distributed 

 as above noted. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition.— a. magna, 9325-7, Loup Fork.— b. iieglecta, 9307, 

 9312-19, 9321, Loup Fork; 9,332, Platte; 4748, 4751, 4752, "Nebraska;" 5334, 5338, 

 Fort Union ; 5336, 5341, Yellowstone ; 5335, 5339, Fort Pierre ; 5330, Fort Lookout : 

 5329, Little Cheyenne ; 4749, The Tower. 



Later EjrpedHions.—\m: neglecfa, 54312-15, 60,444-6, 60738-43, 60808-12, 610G0-9, vari- 

 ous Wyoming localities ; G1732-3, Utah. 



Cases like the present have, until very recently, proven stumbling-blocks. All the 

 facts were long in our possession before they received adequate and reasonable expla- 

 nation ; tbey were simply noted and left as found. It would be a curious and not 

 unprofitable enquiry, how much the progress of philosophic ornithology has been re- 

 tarded by the trammels of the binomial nomenclature, which practically forced us to 

 either recognize as a species what we now call a race, or sink it into au immeaniug 

 synonym. To cite a striking example in this very case of Star nella: Dr. Cabanis, in 

 1856 ; Dr. Finsch, in 1870 ; and Mr. Allen, in 1871, all came to the eamo conclusion, that 

 there is but a single species of the genus. Bnt in a synonymical notation of this fact, 

 such as that given by Mr. Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. ii,'288, the difiereuces of race are 

 ignored as completely as the resemblance is brought out. So far as his synonymy goes, 

 all the Sturnellas are repeated exactlj' alike, which is by no means the case. The 

 bringing into general use of the term " var." is a great practical help, albeit an instru- 

 ment too clumsy for the nice work of the future, we may confidently anticipate. I can 

 to-day foresee naturalists' reversion to a polynomial nomenclature, in wliich three or 

 more words shall express to a nicety the shades of their zoiilogical meaning. Liuna'us 

 conferred an inestimable boon upon a century of natuialists ; but an eliective mode of 

 expressing the ideas then current has ])roven inadequate ibr present purposes. I raise 

 my voice emjihatically in favor of freedom from the binomial shackles. 



I have not personally investigated the relationships of the extralimital forms, but 

 the current views of those who have, accord with my belief. The case of Sturnella 

 magna neglecta is settled and explained ; Magna shades directly into negleeta, and de- 

 velopes its pecnliarities precisely according to the mean annual rain-fall, and conso- 

 qnently the average humidity of the atmosphere of the regions in whicli it rcisides. 

 The change is imperceiJtibly eftected; distinguishable examples sometimes occur to- 

 gether; the characters culminate in the most sterile regions. The i)ecnliarities of 

 veglrcta are casually exhibited in the East. I was once shown some uulabelled speci- 

 mens, which I did uot hesitate to call ''negleeta," and was considerably taken aback 

 on learning they were shot near Philadelphia, by Mr. Krider. 



A dilierenco in the song, " attested by all ol)servcrs from Lewis and Clarke down to 

 the present day," is very curious. My own exi)erience in this matter agrees exactly 

 with that of Mr. Allen, who I will (juote: "At tlu^ little village of Denison, in Iowa, 

 where I first noticed it in song, it was particularly common, and half-iloinestic in its 

 habits, preferring, apparently, the streets and grassy lanes, and the immediate vicinity 

 of the village, to the remoter prairie. Here, wholly unmolested and niis»si)icious, it 

 collected its food ; and the males, from their accustomed perches on the house-tops, 

 daily warbled their wild song for hours together. » » * » 'pj^, ^ow^, liowever, 

 was so new to me that I did not at thst have the .slightest suspicion its author was 

 the Western Meadow-lark, as I found it to be, the time being between daylight and 

 sunrise, and the individual in ((uestion singing IVom the toji of the eoun-bonsi-. It 

 diflers from that of the Meadow-lark in the Eastern States in the notes lieing louder 

 and wilder, and at the sanu^ time more liquid, mellower, and far sweeter. Tiiey have a 

 peusiveuesK and a general character remarkably iii harmony with the half-dreary wild- 

 ucssof the iirimitive paairie, as though the l)ird had received from its surroundings their 

 peculiar impress; while if Ici-s loud their .songs would hardly reach their unites above 

 the strong winds that almost constantly sweep over the jirairics in the hot months. 

 It dillers, too, in the less frequency of the harsh, comphiiuiiig chatter so conspicuous 

 iu the Eastern birds, so much so tiiat at first I 8Usi)ected this to bo wholly wanting." 



