Genus XLI. ALAUDA. LARK. 



Species I. A. MAGNA* 



MEADOW LARK. 



[Plate XIX. Fig, 2.] 



Linn. Syst. 289. — Crescent Stare, Arct. Zool. 330, No. 192. — Latham, hi., 6, Var. 

 A. — Le Fer-d-cheval, ou Merle d Collier d' Amerique, Buff, hi., p. 371. — Catesb. 

 Car. I., pi. 33.— Bartram, p. 290. 



Though this well-known species cannot boast of the powers of song 

 which distinguish that "harbinger of day," the Sky Lark of Europe, 

 yet in richness of plumage, as well as in sweetness of voice (as far as 

 his few notes extend), he stands eminently its superior. He differs from 

 the greater part of his tribe in wanting the long straight hind claw, 

 which is probably the reason why he has been classed, by some late 

 naturalists, with the Starlings. But in the particular form of his bill, 

 in his manners, plumage, mode and place of building his nest, nature 

 has clearly pointed out his proper family. 



This species has>a very extensive range ; having myself found them 

 in Upper Canada, and in each of the states from New Hampshire to 

 New Orleans. Mr. Bartram also informs me that they are equally 

 abundant in East Florida. Their favorite places of retreat are pasture 

 fields and meadows, particularly the latter, which have conferred on 

 them their specific name ; and no doubt supply them abundantly with 

 the particular seeds and insects on which they feed. They are rarely 

 or never seen in the depth of the woods ; unless where, instead of under-, 

 wood, the ground is covered with rich grass, as in the Choctaw and 

 Chickasaw countries, where I met with them in considerable numbers in 

 the months of May and June. The extensive and luxuriant prairies 

 between Vincennes and St. Louis also abound with them. 



It is probable that in the more rigorous regions of the north they may 

 be birds of passage, as they are partially so here ; though I have seen 

 them among the meadows of New Jersey, and those that border the 

 rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, in all seasons ; even when the ground 



* Alauda magna, Linn. Syst. i., p. 167, Ed. 10. — Gmel. Syst. i., p. 801. — Merula 

 Americana torquata, Briss. Av. ii., p. 242, No. 15. — (Summer dress.) Sturnus 

 ludovicianus, Linn. Syst. i., p. 290. — Gmel. Syst. i., p. 802. — Brisson, ii., p. 449, 

 4, t. 42, f. 1. — Lath. lad. Orn. i. 323. — Etourneau de la Loiiisiane, Buff, hi., p. 

 192.— PZ. Enl. 256.— (Winter plumage.) 



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