176 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



In New Engiaud these birds mate during the latter part of April, and 

 construct their nests in May. They always place their nest on the ground, 

 usually in the shelter of a thick tuft of grass, and build a covered passage 

 to their hidden nest. This entrance is usually formed of withered grass, 

 and so well conceals the nest that it can only be detected by Hushing the 

 female from it, or by the anxiety of her mate, who will frequently fly round 

 the spot in so narrow a circuit as to betray its location. 



The eggs of the Meadow Lark vary greatly in size and also in their mark- 

 ings, though the general character of the latter is the same. The smallest, 

 from Florida, measure .95 by .68 of an inch. The largest, from Massachu- 

 setts, measure 1.20 inches by .90. They have a white ground, marked and 

 dotted with irregular reddish-brown spots. Generally these are equally 

 distributed, but occasionally are chiefly about the larger end. Their shape 

 is oval, nearly equally rounded at eitlier end. 



The diversity in the characteristics of the eggs of this species has not un- 

 frequently occasioned remarks, and even suggested conjectures as to specific 

 differences. They are all, however, reconcilable with difterences in the age 

 of the parents, and are, to some extent, affected by the circumstances under 

 which they are deposited. The eggs of old, mature birds, deposited in the 

 early summer, or the first brood, are usually sub-globular or olitusely pointed 

 at either end, large in size, and irregularly sprinkled over with fine bright 

 red dots. Younger birds, breeding for the first time, birds that have been 

 robbed of their eggs, or those depositing a third set, have smaller eggs, some- 

 times two thirds of the maximum size, more oblong and more pointed at one 

 end, and are marked, at the larger end only, with plashes of dark purplish- 

 brown. 



Sturnella magna, var. neglecta, Aud. 



WESTERN LARK. 



Sturnella neglecta, Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 339, pi. cccclxxxvii. — Newberry, Zobl. 

 Cal. & Or. Route ; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, iv, 1857, 86. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 537. — Hkerm. X, S, 54. — Cooper & Suokley, 208..— Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 

 1870, 270. ? Sturnella hippocrepis, (Wagler,) Heermann, J. A. N". Sc. Ph. 2d series, 

 II, 1853, 269, Suisun. 



Sp. Char. Feathers above dark brown, margined with brownish-white, with a ter- 

 minal 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 sides of the maxilla. Sides, crissum, and tibise 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, on the north (Iowa, Allen), and Texas on the south ; western 

 Mexico, south to Colima. 



