266 BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



would invariably turn their backs upon me as 1 drew near. Do our 

 Meadowlarks practice the same impolite habit ? 



The Meadowlark's song is a clear, plaintive whistle of unusual 

 sweetness. It is subject to much variation, both individually and 

 geographically. The birds near my home at Englewood, N. J., gen- 



erally sing: 





But the 



songs of Florida birds are so different, I hardly recognized them by 

 their notes. 



In the fall, Meadowlarks at the north gather in flocks and resort to 

 large marshes. 



501a;. S. m. neglecta< {Aud.^. Western Meadowlark; Prairie 

 Lark. — Prevailing color of the upper parts grayish brown, crown with a cen- 

 tral buffy stripe ; back black, feathers Avidely margined with grayish brown ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts with narrow black bars ; outer tail-feathers 

 mostly white ; middle ones brownish gray, barred with black, the bars gen- 

 erally not connected, and as a rule reaching the margins of the feathers ; 

 line from the bill over the eye yellow; ear-coverts grayish white; throat 

 yellow, this color reaching up on the sides of the throat and touching the ear- 

 coverts ; breast and upper belly yellow, a black crescent on the breast ; sides 

 and lower belly whitish, spotted or streaked with black. Winter plumage. — 

 Upper parts more widely margined with grayish brown, these grayish brown 

 tips with small, broken black bars ; yellow of under parts duller, the black 

 crescent veiled with whitish. W., 4-60 ; T., 3-00 ; B., 1-25. 



Ranqe. — " Western North America, north to British Columbia and Mani- 

 toba ; east regularly to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, sparingly to 

 Illinois and Wisconsin; south through western Mexico" (Eidgw.). 



The Western Meadowlark resembles the eastern bird in habits but 

 differs from it so decidedly in song that some ornithologists consider 

 it a distinct species and not a geographical race. In his charming 

 biography of the Prairie Lark, Ernest E. Thompson writes : " In rich- 

 ness of voice and modulation it equals or excels both Wood Thrush 

 and Nightingale, and in the power and beauty of its articulation it 

 has no superior in the whole world of feathered choristers with which 

 I am acquainted " (Birds of Manitoba). 



The Trotjpial {502. Ictervs ictervi^). a South American species, was re- 

 corded by Audubon as accidental at Charleston, South Carolina. 



506. Icterus spurius (Linn.). Orchard Oriole. ^(/. 5 .—Head, 

 neck, throat, and upper back black ; breast, belly, lower hack, and lesser 

 wing-coverts chestnut ; wings and tail fuscous, more or less edged or tipped 

 with whitish. Ad. 9 .—Upper parts grayish olive-green, brighter on the 

 head and rump ; wings fuscous, middle and greater coverts tipped with whit- 

 ish ; tail bright olive-green ; under parts dull yellow. Im. 3 , first year.— 



