284 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Genus STURNELLA Vieillot. 

 STURNELLA MAGNA (Linn.). 



205. Meadowlark. (501) 



Above, the prevailing aspect l)io\vn. Each feather of the Ijack blackish^ 

 with a terminal reddish -brown area, and sharp brownish -yellow borders ; 

 neck similar, the pattern smaller ; crown, streaked with black and brown, and 

 with a pale median and superciliary stripe ; a blackish line behind eye ; 

 several lateral tail feathers white, the others with the inner quills and wing 

 coverts l)arred or scolloped with black and brown or gray ; edge of wing, spot 

 over eye, and under parts generally, l)right yellow ; the sides and crissum, 

 flaxen brown, with numerous sharp blackish streaks ; the bieast, with a large 

 black ci-escent (obscure in the young) : bill, horn color ; feet, light 1)rown. 

 Length, 10-11 ; wing, 5 ; tail, 3A ; bill, 1^. Female : — Similar, smaller, !ti. 



Hab. — Eastern United States and Southern Canada to the Plains. 



Nest, on the ground, at the foot of a tuft of grass or weeds, lined with dry 

 grass, and sometimes pai'tly ai'ched o\ev. 



Eggs, four to six, white, dotted and sprinkled with reddish-brown. 



The Meadowlark is found in all suitable districts throughout 

 Ontario, apparently preferring the south-west. In the southern 

 portion of the Province, it is generally distributed thi'oughout the 

 agricultural districts, where its loud, clear, liquid notes are always 

 associated in our minds with fields of clover and new-mown hay. 

 Here it may be considered migratory, the greater number leaving us 

 in October to return again in April, but it is no uncommon thing to 

 find one or two remaining during the winter in sheltered situations. 

 On the 7th of February, 1885, when the cold was intense and snow 

 covered the ground, I noticed an individual of this species digging 

 vigorously into a manure heap at Hamilton Pieach. When examined 

 he was found to be in very poor condition, and looked altogether as 

 if he had been having a hai-d time. The present species is found 

 north to Alanitoba, where it is replaced by the Western Meadowlark, 

 which resembles our eastern form so closel}' that it is doubtful if any 

 one, judging by appeai^ance only, could separate them with certainty. 

 The song of tlie birds is so entirely different that, chiefly on this 

 account, the western bird has been recorded as a sub-species under 

 the name of SfurneUa magna negleeta, or Western Meadowlark, the 

 dry central plains forming the boundary between the two habitats. 



