EASTERN MEADOWLARK 77 



On the New Jersey coast the meadowlarks start flocking about the 

 middle of August, when it is common to see parties of 20 to 25 indi- 

 viduals. In October the birds band together in large flocks of 200 to 

 300. Many of these birds pass on farther south, but flocks of 50 to 

 75 are to be seen throughout the winter. They become much tamer h) 

 winter, especially when food is scarce and it is then that they frequent 

 the habitations of man and even enter the towns, where they may be 

 seen in vacant lots feeding in company with English sparrows and star- 

 lings. They have also been reported as seen feeding on garbage in 

 alley ways during times of severe blizzards. During the winter months 

 meadowlarks have been flushed from the tall grass of marshes, where 

 the great accumulation of droppings indicated that they had roosted 

 during the night. j§ Meadowlarks have also been known to accompany 

 grackles to their roosts in trees, but this is not common practice. 



In recent years meadowlarks have been wintering in increasing 

 numbers in the salt marshes of southeastern Maine in the region of 

 Scarboro, Pine Point, and southward. During October and November 

 as many as 100 to 200 meadowlarks may be started from a single 

 marsh. These birds are probably individuals which had nested in the 

 interior of the State and concentrated on the coast in the autumn. 



Fred S. Walker (1910) reports that he has seen meadowlarks at 

 Pine Point throughout the winter. A flock of 30 to 40 were frequently 

 seen in the adjacent marshes. 



In very cold weather, when the grasses and weeds of the marsh were buried 

 beneath the snow, they would venture up to the railway station and pick up grain 

 which had fallen from freight cars. * * * In February, when the marsh was 

 deeply covered with snow, I frequently walked out near the river, scraped off 

 snow from small patches of grass and fed the larks with grain — cracked corn, oats, 

 and barley. They evidently relished this, for it was eagerly devoured. On warm 

 days in January and February they often alighted on the telegraph wires and sang. 



In South Carolina the meadowlarks arrive in large numbers in 

 October to take up then winter residence in stubble, corn and cotton 

 fields, and in old fields grown up in weeds and brown sedge. These 

 birds, like those that winter along the Maine and New Jersey coasts, 

 spend the nights in the salt marshes. In various parts of the State 

 they swarm about the rice plantations, where they are often killed 

 by hunters who know the meadowlark as the "marsh quail." 



At Buckeye Lake, Ohio, M. B. Trautman (1940) writes of wintering 

 meadowlarks as follows: "In an average winter 10 to 30 birds could 

 be found during a day's field trip, but when the species was most 

 numerous as many as 210 were seen in a day. The wintering birds 

 were found in fields and meadows whenever these were largely free of 

 snow. When there was deep snow the birds congregated about manure 

 piles, straw stacks, and in barnyards and adjacent fields where stock 

 was fed." 



