270 



SINGING BIRDS— OSCINES. 



Genus STURNELLA, \'ieillot. 



Stiinitlla, ViEiLLOT, Analyse, 1816. (TyiJO, Alumla mar/iui, L.) 



Gex. CiiAi:. Builv thick, stout; legs large, toes readiing bt-yond tlie tail. Tail short, 

 even, with narrow acuminate feathers. Bill slender, elongated ; length about three times 

 the height ; commissure straight from the basal angle. Culnien flattened basally, extend- 

 ing backwards and parting the frontal feathers ; longer than the head, but shorter than 



tarsus. Nostrils linear, covered by an incumbent membranous scale. Inner lateral toe 

 longer than the outer, but not reaching to basal joint of middle ; hind toe a little shorter 

 than the middle, which is equal to the tarsus. Hind claw nearly twice as long as the 

 middle. Feathers of head stifi'ened, and bristly ; the shafts of those above e.xtended into 

 black setae. Tertials nearly equal to the primaries. Feathers above all transversely 

 banded. Beneath, yellow, with a black pectoral crescent. 



StunicUa muijiia, Liniueus (Swainson), tlie Ea.stem meadow-lark, differs 

 very slightly from otirs, chiefly in the yellow of throat beiin;' narrower (not 

 extending on .side of face), and the bars of tertials and tail feathers being 

 connected by a wide black stripe running along middle of feathers. 



Sturnella neglecta, Audubon. 



THE WESTEKN LAKK. 



Stimulh nri/lrrlii, AriunioN, Bh-ds Amcr. VII. 184.3, .■).39 ; ]j1. 487. — XEwncRRV, Zool. Cal. 

 and Or. l^ontc ; Rep. P. It. R. Sm-v. VI. iv. 18.57, 86. — B.vikd, P. R. Reii. IX. Binls, 

 5,37. — Kknnkri.v, X. iv. 31. — Hehemann, X. vi. 54. — Cooper and Slcklev, XII. 

 iii. Zuol. of W. T. 208. — Coues, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1866, 91. 



Sp. Ciiau. Feathers above dark In-own, margined with brownish-white, with a ter- 

 niinal blotch of pale reddish-brown. Exposed portion of wings and tail with transverse 



