THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 99 



JfMarsh Men., Sftlt if Vi/er. See Clapper Eail. 



•JfletielowUirk^ or FleUl Ijark. — Length, ten and a 

 half inches; extent, sixteen and a half inches; bill, one 

 and one-fourth inches; upper parts, much mottled with 

 buff, rusty-brown and black, the former tints predomin- 

 ating in autumn and winter; head, mostly black, with a 

 central buff stripe and another over each eye; long wing 

 feathers, light brown, the outer webs slightly spotted, 

 the inner feathers with serrated black stripes down 

 the center; central tail feathers similar, the outer ones 

 more or less white; under surface of the body, bright 

 yellow to the middle of the belly, where it passes into 

 buff; a crescent shaped band of black across the breast; 

 cheeks, a bufify white; sides of the body, light buff, 

 streaked with black; bend of wing, yellow; eyelids, furn- 

 ished with strong black hairs; legs and feet very large and 

 of a pale flesh color. In winter the whole plumage is 

 much suffused with buff. The sexes are alike in plum- 

 age. 



The nest of these birds is built on the ground of the 

 preceding year's herbage; it is nicely overarched so as to 

 make it difficult to find. The eggs are from four to six 

 in number, clear white, spotted with brown and purple, 

 and one and one-tenth by four-fifths of an inch in size. 



In March large numbers spread themselves all over the 

 United States and Canada, coming from the south; they 

 return in September and October, although considerable 

 numbers winter in the southern part of New Jersey. 



Their song is a bright musical twitter, likened by 

 Mabel Osgood Wright to '^ Spriruj ci the y-e-a-r,^^ but 

 more generally considered to resemble " Can't-see-nie.'' 



The Meadowlarks are ground feeders, destroying large 

 numbers of insects, even in the midst of winter, being 

 particularly fond of grasshoppers and beetles. In August 

 and Septenil)er they subsist almost altogether on insects, 

 grasshoppers forming nearly seventy per cent, of their 



