32 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



tinge'd with the same and marked in center witli a 

 blackish spot ; back, shoulders, lesser wing-coverts, and 

 upper tail-coverts, brownish-gray or grayish-brown 

 (hair-brown): the back and shoulders broadly 

 streaked 'a'itli blaek; wings (except lesser coverts"), 

 dusky with light grayish-brown edgings, the middle 

 coverts tipped with white (producing a rather distinct 

 band), and the eighth to fifth or fourth primaries with 

 white at the base (producing a patch) ; middle pair 

 of tail-feathers, dusky grayish-brown, the remaining 

 feathers black, abruptly tif'f'ed icilh 'd'hite. this white 

 occupying nearly if not quite all the exposed terminal 

 half on outermost feather : iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Located usually on tlie 



ground in prairies or dry open meadows, sunk flush 

 with the earth, carefully concealed ; constructed of 

 dried grass, weed stalks, lined with finer similar mate- 

 rial. Eggs : 3 to 6, pure white or very pale bluish 

 or brownish white, with spots and pen lines of sepia 

 and black, bearing a singular resemblance to Oriole 

 eggs. 



Distribution. — Mississippi valley, east of the Great 

 Plains: north to eastern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and 

 southern Michigan, east (regularly) to Ohio, Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee, etc., casually or more rarely to Mas- 

 sachusetts, Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 District of Columbia, Virginia, etc., and (during migra- 

 tion ) Florida. 



Tlie Lark Sparrow is one of the commonest 

 and most attractive of American birds. It is 

 found in grass country everywhere except in 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



LARK SPARROW (J nat. size) 

 A familiar bird, common on both city iawns and rocky mesas 



the Alleghenies and on the Atlantic coast. In the 

 southwest there is less grass but plenty of sage- 

 brush, and there the Lark Sparrow is also 

 common. No one can travel through America 

 west of the Alleghenies without seeing the Lark 

 Sparrow. And no one who has ever known this 

 Sparrow will ever forget how handsome he is 

 with his chestnut and white head, one black spot 

 on a white breast and a white-edged tail. He 

 runs ahead along the dusty road, he rises out 

 of the June meadows, he walks across the lawns 

 of towns, he perches on rocks and Spanish bay- 

 onet and sagebrush and all kinds of wayside 

 bushes. Even out upon the flat and grassless 

 deserts he may be seen flying from cactus to 

 cactus. His absence from the Atlantic coast 

 States is the only fact that prevents his being 

 one of the best known birds of America. Over 



his great range he is known not only for his 

 beauty, btit also for his friendly habit of nesting 

 near the farm buildings and villages. 



If nothing else made the bird a favorite, his 

 melodious, long, and varied song, heard almost 

 continuously, would make him beloved. It is a 

 wonder that the poets have not sung his praises. 

 A poetic and intelligent people love the Lark 

 Sparrow already. The writer of poetry will 

 praise him in verse some later year. The song 

 is described by Ridgway as " one continued gush 

 of sprightly music, now gay, now melodious, and 

 then tender beyond description — the very ex- 

 pression of emotion. At intervals the singer 

 falters, as if exhausted by exertion, and his 

 voice becomes scarcely audible ; but suddenly 

 reviving in his jov it is resumed in all its vigor 



, l.v I I H. i inir;v Mf v,,t, .A:, '\url. 



NEST AND EGGS OF LARK SPARROW 

 Always carefully concealed 



