BIRDS—ICTERIDAE—STURNELLA NEGLECTA. 537 
In other respects there is a great similarity. The species may, however, prove to be distinct. 
The American meadow lark was first named by Linnaeus in the tenth edition of Syst. Nat. 
1758, and called Alauda magna, after Catesby’s unmistakeable figure. In the twelfth edition 
** Sturnus ludovicianus’’ makes its appearance from Brisson. The second description is absolutely 
inaccurate, (‘‘ throat black,’’) and there is no mention of the yellow under parts. As there isa 
decided priority for the name of magna, therefore, and the description accompanying it is 
sufficiently accurate, while that of dwdoviciana is not so, I restore the former, as used by _ 
Wilson and Swainson. 
List of specimens. 
| | | 
Catal.| Sex. Locality. When col- | Whence obtained. | Orig.| Collected by— | Length. Stretch) Wing. | Remarks. 
| 
No. lected. No. of wings. 
1303| G | Carlisle, Pa............| Mar. 21, 1844 
T6TSH GS leeaes COivsvecececweces: June 24, 1844 | 
1555 Q coeeee (OS «..| May 20, 1844 |. 
4545 Q Washington, D. 0 | Winter «oe . 
T7584 |eveseveeles woe GOs. ceeeees sealeeescecccee aes 
ecooee| Salemy Ill..sseees Pererr April 7. 2.2005 | N. W. University... 
cececese| RACING, WiS. cece cccees|seccvccccecees|oocces dO.. 000. ovceee 
2689 | | Minois ..-| Mar. —, 1844 | S. F. Baird ........ 
4294 |. cccoee Calcasieu Pass, La,.... 1854......0e0+| G. Wiirdemann ....}.....5 
8190 3 Fort Leavenworth......| July 12,1857 W.M. Magraw....| 126 | Dr. Cooper....ee+) 9.75 |eeeeeeee 4.75 | Feet brown.... 
8177 3 Shawnee Mission, K. T. 16.00 4.87 | Feet flesh.......00s 
B180)|) BeSee|satzsedosesssrs: ree 15.25 | 4.75 |.eceee Gore eesinates : 
5687 3 East of Fort Riley, K. T.| June 13, 1856 | Lieut. Bryan.......| 5 | We S. W00d cccccelsseevcceleocccscelecescece = See eins eececee 
6555 | ececee Fort Riley, K. T ...c00 
9327 fof Loup Fork 16.00 5.00 | Tris dark brown... 
9326 Oe lll Meeees GOs sais 15.50 4.50 | Iris light yellow.... 
9325;\|' Ge |esesee dOrsisess 15.75 | 4,75 | Iris dark brown.... 
8621?),.......| Fort Thorn 
STURNELLA NEGLECTA, Aud. 
Western Lark. 
Sturnella neglecta, Avp. Birds Amer. VII, 1843, 339 ; pl. 487.—Newserry, Zool. Cal. & Or. Route; Rep. P. R.R. 
Surv. VI, 1v, 1857, 86. 
2? Sturnella hippocrepis, )Wacner,) Heermann, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d series, II, 1853, 269, Suisun, 
Sp. Cu.—Feathers above dark brown, margined with brownish white, with a terminal blotch of pale reddish brown. Exposed 
portion of wings and tail with transverse bands, which, in the latter, are completely isolated from each other, narrow and 
linear. Beneath yellow, with a black pectoral crescent. The yellow of the throat extending on the side of the maxilla. Sides, 
crissum, and tibia very pale reddish brown, or nearly white, streaked with blackish. Head with a light median and superciliary 
stripe, the latter yellow in front of the eye; a blackish line behind it. The transverse bars on the feathers above (less so on the 
tail) with a tendency to become confluent near the exterior margin. Length, 10 inches; wing, 5.25; tail, 3.25; bill, 1.25. 
Hab.—Western America from High Central Plains to the Pacific ; east to Pembina, and perhaps to Wisconsin. 
This species is so very closely related to the S. magna as to render it very difficult to 
distinguish them. The same description as to pattern, colors, size, &c., will apply almost 
equally well to both. The prevailing shade of color is, however, decidedly paler in neglecta, 
the light margins to the feathers being purer, the intervals of the dark markings being not 
reddish brown so much as olivaceous, with a faint trace only of chestnut. As a general rule 
where the dark brown in S. magna margins the shaft of the feather and sends off angular 
dentations towards the exterior, in S. neglecta it is thrown into separate narrow transverse 
bands going entirely across, and not connected by brown along the shafts. This is most 
June 25, 1858. 
68 b 
