BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 265 



The nesting season is a short one, and in July young and old'begin 

 to gather in flocks in the marshes, where later they will be found, in 

 countless numbers, feeding on the wild rice. 



498b. A. p. bryanti Ridgiv. Florida Eedwing. — Similar to the 

 preceding, but smaller, the bill much more slender; 9 with the under parts 

 less broadly streaked with black. W., 3-70; T., 3-50; B., -90; depth of bill 

 at nostril, •Zb. 



Range. — Florida and the Bahamas. 



501. Sturnella raSL^nsi {Linn.). Meadowlark ; Field Lark. Ad. 



in summer. — Prevailing color of the upper parts black, the crown with a butfy 

 line through the center, the back bordered and tipped with rufous and buffy ; 

 outer tail-feathers mostly white, middle ones with imperfect, connected bars, 

 not reaching the outer edge of the feather; line from the bill over the eye 

 yellow; sides of the throat and ear-coverts whitish; throat, between the 

 lower branch of the under mandible, breast, and middle of the upper belly 

 bright yellow; a black crescent on the breast; sides and lower belly whitish, 

 spotted or streaked with black. Winter plumage. — Feathers all much more 

 widely margined, the prevailing color of the upper parts rufous-brown ; black 

 breast crescent veiled with burty ; yellow of under parts duller. L., 10-75; 

 W., 4-76; T., 3-16; B., 1-30. 



Remarlc^. — This bird is to be distinguished from the western species by 

 its much darker upper parts, by the imperfect, confluent tail-bars, and more 

 especially by the absence of yellow on the sides of the throat. 



Rcinge. — Eastern North America; breeds from the Gulf to New Brunswick 

 and Minnesota; winters from Massachusetts and Illinois southward. 



Washington, common P. R., less common in winter. Sing Sing, tolerably 

 common S. R., Feb. 20 to Nov. 27 ; a few winter. Cambridge, common S. R., 

 not common W. V. 



Nest^ of grasses, frequently arched, on the ground. Eggs^ four to six, 

 white, spotted or speckled with cinnamon or reddish brown, 1'15 x -80. 



In walking through grassy fields, meadows, or marshes, we some- 

 times flush rather large, brownish birds, which, alternately flapping 

 and sailing, scale away with a flight that suggests a Quail's. Their 

 white outer tail-feathers show conspicuously, and if, instead of return- 

 ing to the ground, they alight on a fence or the outer branch of a tree, 

 as they utter a nasal peenty they will nervously flit their tails, display- 

 ing the same white feathers. 



When in an exposed position they are wary and difficult to ap- 

 proach, but when walking about on the ground they trust to the long 

 grasses for protection, and sometimes do not take wing until one is 

 within a few feet of them. 



In Cuba I noticed that a Meadowlark, closely related to ours, was 

 very careful to conceal its brightly colored breast, with its distinctly 

 marked crescent, and, although even perching birds were not shy, they 



