178 Mr. P. L. Sclater on the occurrence 



by the name of the Meadow-Lark, from the strong resemblance 

 of its habits and flight to the members of the genus Alauda. It 

 haSj however, in reahty nothing to do with the Lark-family, 

 being strictly a member of the American Icteridce, or Hang-nests. 

 This group takes the place of the Starlings in the New World, 

 and is closely allied to them in structure ; but, besides other dif- 

 ferences, its members have only nine primaries in the wing, 

 whereas in the Starlings {Sturnida;) of the Old World the tenth 

 outer primary is always present. In their elaborate nest-wea- 

 ving habits the IcteridcB show much resemblance to the Weavers 

 {Ploceidce) of Africa and India, and in some of them (such as 

 Dolichonyx) the general conformation is not very different. 



The genus Sturnella is an aberrant form amongst the Icteridce, 

 its structure being modified to suit it to terrestrial habits, 

 whereas the more typical members of the family are eminently 

 arboreal. Accurate accounts of the present well-known species 

 having been given by Wilson, Audubon, Baird *, and other 

 American ornithologists, whose writings are easy of access, it 

 will not be necessary to repeat them here. But it may not be 

 out of place to add a few lines on the geographical distribution 

 of this bird and its local varieties in the New World. 



The Sturnella, if we embrace under this name a series of forms 

 nearly, if not quite, identical in structure, but slightly differing 

 in dimensions and in plumage, occupies the whole continent of 

 America from about the 50th parallel of north latitude f to the 

 Savannahs of Venezuela in the southern portion of the New 

 World, but presents certain variations in specimens brought 

 from different localities, to which we may do well to attach 

 different names, whether we regard them as species or as local 

 varieties. 



1. Sturnella ludoviciana is the bird of the eastern parts of 



* See Wilson's American Ornithology, vol. iii. p. 20. pi. 19. fig. 2 (where 

 the bird is called Alauda magna) : Jardine's edition of Wilson (1832), vol. i. 

 p. 311 : Audubon's Ornithological Biography, ii. p. 216, and v. p. 4.92 

 (Sturnus ludovicianus): Audubon's Synopsis of the Birds of North Ame- 

 rica, p. 148 ; Bii-ds of America, pi. 136 : Baii-d's Birds of North America, 

 p. 535. 



f It is a migratory species on the Saskatchewan, arriving about May 1st. 

 See Richardson's Fauna Bor.-Amcr. ii. p. 282. 



