92 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



And Robert Ridgway (1877) writes: 



We know of no two congeneric species, of any family of birds, more radically 

 distinct in all their utterances than the eastern and western Meadow Larks, 

 2 years of almost daily association with the latter, and a much longer familiarity 

 with the former, having thoroughly convinced us of this fact; indeed, as has been 

 the experience of every naturalist whose remarks on the subject we have read or 

 heard, we never even so much as suspected, upon hearing the song of the Western 

 Lark for the first time, that the author of the clear, loud, ringing notes were [sic] 

 those of a bird at all related to the Eastern Lark, whose song, though equally 

 sweet, is far more subdued — half-timid — and altogether less powerful and varied. 

 As to strength of voice, no eastern bird can be compared to this, while its notes 

 possess a metallic resonance equalled only by those of the Wood Thrush. The 

 modulation of the song of the Western Lark we noted on several occasions, and 

 found it to be most frequently nearly as expressed by the following syllables: 

 Tung-tung-tung ah, tillah' -tillah' , tung — the first three notes deliberate, full, and 

 resonant, the next two finer and in a higher key, the final one like the first in 

 accent and tone. Sometimes this song is varied by a metallic trill, which renders 

 it still more pleasing. The ordinary note is a deep-toned tuck, much like the 

 chuck of the Blackbirds (Quiscalus), but considerably louder and more metallic; 

 another note is a prolonged rolling chatter, somewhat similar to that of the 

 Baltimore Oriole (Icterus baltimore), but correspondingly louder, while the anxious 

 call-note is a liquid tyur, which in its tone and expression calls to mind the spring- 

 call (not the warble) of the Eastern Blue-bird (Sialia sialis), or the exceedingly 

 similar complaining note of the Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius). In fact, all the 

 notes of the Western Lark clearly indicate its position in the family Icteridae, 

 which is conspicuously not the case in the eastern bird." 



Charles N. Allen (1881), evidently an accomplished musician, has 

 published an excellent study of the song of the western meadowlark, 

 to which the reader is referred, as it is too long to quote from satis- 

 factorily. Twenty-seven distinct songs are illustrated in musical 

 notation, in which the bird apparently sings from 120 to 200 notes 

 per minute. Referring to the quality of the song, he says: "I know 

 of no musical instrument whose quality of tone — timbre — is like that 

 of Sturnella neglecta. I have thought that a combination of the tones 

 of the Boehm flute and a good, glass dulcimer might represent it 

 pretty accurately. It has qualities heard in the notes of the Bobolink, 

 and of the Baltimore Oriole." He says that he cannot apply the 

 syllables, quoted above from Ridgway, to any of the songs he has 

 studied; and adds that, while the songs of many birds may be well 

 represented in syllables, he has "as yet heard nothing of the kind in 

 any of the songs of the bird under consideration." 



While Allen's musical notations may convey some impressions to a 

 trained musician, they are of no help to the average layman; nor, in 

 my opinion, do the many attempts, which I have seen in print, to 

 express the songs in syllables, give any adequate idea of them. While 

 attempts to express the songs in human words are entirely inadequate 

 to show their quality, they at least indicate the rhythm and serve to 



