FEBRUARY 28, 1899 VoL. I, PP. 19-21 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
NEW ENGLAND ZOOLOGICAL CLUB 
THE FLORIDA MEADOWLARK. 
BY OUTRAM BANGS. 
IN his review of the genus Sturne//a,* Mr. Witmer Stone clearly 
set forth the differences between the Florida meadowlark and 
Sturnella magna mexicana, with which it had been confused. He, 
however, left the question as to what name the Florida form 
should bear, still unsettled. His reason for so doing was that he 
thought that the Linnean name, Sturnus ludovicianus, would have 
to be revived for it. ‘There seem to me to be good reasons why 
the name Sturnus ludovicianus is inapplicable to the Florida form. 
These are: 
rst. Linnzeus described his Sturnus ludovictanus as having a 
black throat —“gula nigra’’— and gave its habitat as ‘‘America.” 
There is, of course, no form of the meadowlark with a black 
throat, and Linneus did not tie his bird down to any definite 
mevion. lie reters to Brsson;,, Aves, 2, p. 449, pli 41, fig. 1. 
Brisson here describes and figures a_ bird, without doubt a 
meadowlark, but gives no characters by which the subspecies 
could in any way be recognized. As to whence his bird came, 
he merely says “ Louisiana,’— in those days an elastic term, 
meaning North America generally, west of the Mississippi Valley, 
and by no means what we now call Louisiana. I might add that 
Brisson often said New Orleans when he meant to indicate the 
1 Proc. Acad. of Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, March, 1897, pp. 146-152. 
