562 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.88 



Twenty-eight specimens from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Massa- 

 chusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, wing 62.T-66.9 (65.0), tail 

 52.4^58.4 (55.4), culmen from base 10.^12.6 (11.1), tarsus 16.0-18.1 

 (17.6) mm. 



Eighteen specimens from Mackenzie, Athabaska, Alberta, Washing- 

 ton, Montana, and South Dakota, wing 61.5-65.1 (63.6), tail 53.5-59.2 

 (56.5), culmen from base 10.0-11.9 (10.4), tarsus 15.8-18.0 (17.0) mm. 



With length of wing taken for a criterion, it may be noted that while 

 the smallest bird comes from the west (being a specimen taken on Slave 

 River, Athabaska, 10 miles below Peace River, June 15, 1901) the dif- 

 ference between it and the smallest eastern bird measured (a male 

 from Locust Grove, Pa., taken on June 27, 1895) is only 1.2 mm., while 

 the largest eastern bird exceeds the largest western skin by only 1.8 

 mm. Though the western series averages very slightly smaller, this 

 difference for the two groups is only 1.4 mm. It is obvious that there is 

 so much overlap that the identification of specimens on the basis of 

 larger or smaller size, except for a very few specimens, can only be by 

 arbitrary decision. 



With regard to the wing spot, the basal portion of the secondaries, 

 except the innermost, and of the primaries, except the outermost, is 

 orange in the adult male and yellow in the female and immature 

 male. The wing spot is most prominent in the male as it averages 

 larger than in the female, in addition to being brighter colored. The 

 extent to which this orange is exposed is governed by the amount of 

 coverage by the overlying gi'eater coverts and primary coverts. In 

 examining a considerable series of birds I find much variation in the 

 apparent size of this wing spot but cannot correlate this variation 

 with definite geographic area. It appears to me that one factor in 

 the apparent size of this wing spot is due to the method used by the 

 collector in preparing specimens. Many follow the practice — one 

 that to me has always seemed pernicious and that I have never fol- 

 lowed — of loosening the secondaries from the ulna in cleaning the flesh 

 from the wing. In the finished specimen this may easily change the 

 relation between the secondaries and the coverts overlying their bases, 

 and in the case of these redstarts ma}^ modify the apparent size of 

 the exposed section of orange color that constitutes the wing spots. 



Finally I am not able to detect differences in dorsal color in females 

 from the eastern and western areas. 



Family ICTERIDAE 



STURNELLA MAGNA MAGNA (Linnaeus) : Eastern Meadowlark 



The meadowlarks of Kentucky offer some difficulty in identification 

 since in the south and west there are birds intermediate between the 



