THE OOLOGIST. 



91 



bestowing upon his mate melodious as- 

 surances of tidelity and love. Then a 

 Goldtinch. in undulating flight, festoons 

 the other with its plaintive song. Emul- 

 ous and with joy-ghnviug breast, the 

 lark springs from his grassy covert to 

 wing his brief, uncertain course; as he 

 rises on fluttering pinions he glances at 

 every side, his throat swells with blithe- 

 some song, the musical accents resound 

 throughout the meadow: his tlageoletie 

 song ceases, a short sail and a few Hut- 

 ters terminates his Might. 



From morass, thicket and woodland 

 come the voices of Warblers, Wrens 

 and Thrushes, " joined in harmonious 

 union, loud rings the concert of appro- 

 bation; the Mockingbird, accompaning 

 his strains with aerial evolutions, leads 

 the throng; the rhapsody of the Thrash- 

 er, the whistle of the Wren-tit, even 

 the sad pc-wee of the Phcebe bird help 

 swell the chorus. A swoop and the 

 fierce shriek of a hawk silences all. 



The great interior valle3s of Califor- 

 uia, the valleys of the Sacramento and 

 San Joaquin, which combined extend 

 over four hundred miles in length and 

 from foi'ty to sixty miles in widtli, seem 

 to be the mitural home of the Western 

 Meadow Lark. I can conceive of no 

 place more thickly populated with these 

 merry denizens of the tields than that 

 part of the San Joaquin situated in the 

 western part of Tulare county known 

 as Lucerne Vale, a district of about 

 four hundred square miles. Here are 

 extensive wheat tields; the monotony of 

 the scene is broken by farm houses, 

 iiere and there, surrounded with poplar 

 trees and orchards, and also l)y darker 

 hued fields of Alfalfa, in early summer 

 the color of whicli is in marked contrast 

 to the ripened grain. Lines of droop- 

 ing willows, which fringe the banks of 

 capacious irrigation canals, weave their 

 way througli these fertile plains and 

 can be traced for miles until the}'^ be- 

 come as threads anil are lost in the 

 dimness of the distance. 



Far in the cast the Sierra Nevadas 

 left their lofty forms in rude grandeur 

 above the plain; Mount Whitney. 14880 

 feet in elevation, towers al)ove the 

 others and presents to the sun, a glitter- 

 ing, snow-capped peak. The Coast 

 Range mountains can l)e traced a dim 

 outline on the western hoi-i/on. Such 

 is the model home of Ihe Western 

 Meadow Larks. 



Unmolested, they congregate here in 

 countless numbers. On driving along 

 the road, they arise in Hocks from the 

 road-side, fluttering a snort distance 

 and settle again. They are easy to ap- 

 proach — a poor marksman, indeed, is 

 he who mast All his bag with Meadow 

 Lark. 



The flight of the Mea<low Lark is 

 peculiar. It springs from the ground, 

 ghiuces abcnit as if in fear and beats it.s 

 wings in a laborious manner; after at- 

 taining a certain height it flys and sails 

 alternately, it but seldom entiu's upon 

 protracted flights, yet when shot at it 

 sails and flies, until lost in the azure 

 depth. 



The nesting time is from the middle 

 of April to July; the nest is built in a 

 tuft of grass and is well concealed. 

 The eggs, four to si.x in numl^er are 

 white, spotted with reddish-brown. 

 The Larks make model parents, show- 

 ing great solicitude for their ^oung. 

 Harky C. Lillie, 

 Santa iJarbara, Cal. 



Hermit Thrush- 

 (Turdus aonahisclibi: pallasie.) 



Of the family Turdidcc resident in 

 Southern New lingland the Hermit 

 Thrush is undoubtedly the rarest. 

 This bird, as its name implies, is soli- 

 tary in habit; and one must search in 

 the deep woods away from the "haunts 

 of man '" to find it. 



On the nineteenth of June, 1S87 I had 

 th(! good fortune to discover a nest and 

 eggs of this si)ecies in Hartford county, 

 this state. I had set out to look for a 



