76 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



western Minnesota losing. How all this is to be 

 accounted for is yet to be worked out by those 

 who are willing to give time to the study of the 

 food and habits of the bird. 



Drawing by R. I. Braslier 



DICKCISSEL (I nat. size) 



Nowhere is the bird classed as one of the 

 leading bird favorites, and yet a person who 

 lives in the central States and the middle west, 

 and does not know this bird is missing an un- 

 usually interesting neighbor. This is so because 

 of his song, his unusual beauty, his plump and 

 genial personality, and above all, the uncertainty 

 of his presence. But, do not forget, that more 

 than once experienced ornithologists have proved 

 that it is quite possible and very easy to mistake 

 a male English Sparrow for a Dickcissel. 



The Dickcissel is preeminently an eater of 

 grasshoppers. During the months of May, June, 

 July, and August, these insects form over 40 per 

 cent, of his food. Caterpillars — canker worms 

 and other span-worms and cutworms — beetles 

 and snails complete his animal diet. Of course, 

 being a typical seed-eater its staple food during 

 a large part of the year consists of the seeds of 

 weeds and grasses. 



LARK BUNTING 



Calamospiza melanocorys Stcjiiajcr 



A. O. U. Number 605 



Other Names. — White-winged Blackbird; White- 

 winged Prairiebird ; Prairie Bobolink. 



General Description. — Length. 7-]4 inches. Male in 

 summer, black; male in winter and female at all sea- 

 sons, grayish-brown above and white below, streaked 

 above and below with dusky. Bill, large and conical; 

 wings, long with truncated tips ; tail, about 44 length of 

 wing, even, the feathers rather narrow. 



Color. — Adult Male in Summer: Uniform black, 

 with a grayish cast on back, etc. ; middle and 

 greater wing-coverts, mostly white, forming a con- 

 spicuous patch ; inner wing quills, edged with white, and 

 tail-coverts (especially the lower) margined with 

 white ; outermost tail feathers, edged with white and 

 sometimes with a large white spot at tip of inner web. 

 Adult Female in Summer: Above, grayish-brown 

 streaked with dusky ; wings with a white patch, as in 

 the male, but this smaller, more interrupted and tinged 

 with buffy ; under parts, white streaked on breast, 

 sides, etc., with dusky, .^dult Male in Winter: 



Similar to adult female, but feathers of under parts, 

 especially on abdomen, black beneath the surface (this 

 showing where feathers are disarranged) ; chin, black. 

 AiiULT Female in Winter: Similar to tlie summer 

 female, but less grayish-brown and with paler inarkings 

 more strongly tinged with buff. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On ground, sunk to level 

 and usually under shelter of a tussock of grass or 

 weeds; constructed of grass and fine weed stems, 

 lined with fine grasses and vegetable down. Eggs : 4 

 or 5. plain light-blue. 



Distribution. — Great Plains between Missouri River 

 and Rocky Mountains ; breeding from middle and 

 western Kansas, eastern Colorado, western Minnesota, 

 etc., to Manitoba and Assiniboia ; migrating south and 

 southwest in winter, through Texas (to Gulf coast). 

 New Mexico, and Arizona to plateau of Mexico, Lower 

 California, and coast of southern California; occasional 

 west of Rocky Mountains, and accidental in Massa- 

 chusetts, New York, and South Carolina in the fall. 



The Lark Bunting is a bird of the prairies and 

 might very well have been named from the 

 prairies. Western Kansas and eastern Colorado 

 are the home of most of the Lark Buntings, 

 though they are scattered over a much wider 

 area. Sotnetimes out on the plains it is called the 



White-winged Blackbird. That name certainly 

 lefines the bird. American bird students, how- 

 ever, associate the name Blackbird with the 

 Troupials instead of the Finches. Just one 

 western schoolgirl has fallen upon the name of 

 White-winged Prairiebird, which name seems to 



