66 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



double subapical spots of russet. Median crown stripe, and superciliary line 

 cream-buff. Wings sepia-brown, the primaries and secondaries obscurely barred 

 on the outer web with darker brown and edged with pale vinaceous cin- 

 namon shading to white on the first primary, the tertials clove-brown broadly 

 edged with buff and having a row of partly confluent vinaceous cinnamon spots 

 on either side of their shafts producing a barred effect, * * * the rest of the 

 wing converts obscurely mottled with light and dark browns and edged with 

 buff, the alulae with white. The three outer pairs of rectrices are white with a 

 faint dusky subapical shaft-streak, the next pair largely white and the others 

 hair-brown confluently barred with clove-brown, and whitish edged. Below, in- 

 cluding "edge of wing" pale canary-yellow, nearly white on the chin, the sides 

 of the throat, breast, flanks, crissum and tibiae washed with pinkish buff, streaked 

 and spotted with brownish black which forms a pectoral band. Bill and feet 

 pinkish buff, the former becoming slaty, the latter dull clay color. 



First Winter Plumage acquired by a complete post-juvenal moult beginning 

 about September first after the juvenal dress has been worn a long time, young 

 birds and old becoming practically indistinguishable. 



Above, similar to the previous plumage, but all the browns even to the wing 

 and tail quills much darker, often black, and distinct barring rather than mot- 

 tling, the rule. The feathers of the back have large single subapical spots of 

 rich Mar's-brown crossed by two faint dusky bars, and the primary edgings are 

 usually grayer. Below, a rich lemon-yellow (including the chin and supraorbital 

 dash) veiled with buff edgings and a black pectoral crescent is acquired 

 completely veiled with deep buff and ashy edgings. The streakings below are 

 heavier and darker, many of the feathers with subapical russet spots and the 

 wash on the sides is deeper and pinker. 



First Nuptial Plumage acquired by wear which is excessive by the end of the 

 breeding season producing a dingy brown and white appearance above with 

 yellow and black below. The subapical spots of the feathers of the back are 

 almost entirely lost by abrasion and the same force scallops out the light por- 

 tions of the tertiaries, wing coverts, and tail. Neither the yellow nor the black 

 below fades very appreciably, but the shining denuded shafts of the feathers 

 project far beyond the abraided barbs. The yellow seems even to be intensified 

 by the loss of paler barbules. 



Adult Winter Plumage acquired by a complete postnuptial moult in September. 

 Usually indistinguishable from first winter dress. 



Adult Nuptial Plumage acquired by wear as in the young bird. 



Female. — In natal down and juvenal plumage the sexes are indistinguishable. 

 Later the female differs only in slightly duller colors and a more restricted black 

 area on the throat. The moults are exactly the same as in the male. 



Abnormal plumages involving albinism and melanism are known 

 to occur in the meadowlark. The majority of the cases of albinism 

 which have been reported are actually only partially albinistic; in 

 most the brown of the upperparts is white or whitish, whereas the 

 yellow of the underparts seems to be retained in varying degrees of 

 intensity. 



James Savage (1895) collected an albino meadowlark near Buffalo, 

 N. Y., in which "The usual brown of the upper parts was of a pale 

 buff color with the pattern of the feather markings indistinctly dis- 



