68 Ratusun, A New Meadowlark. . sue 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SUBSPECIES OF THE 
WESTERN MEADOWLARK 
BY S. F. RATHBUN. 
SoME time ago my attention was called to certain: apparent 
peculiarities in the meadowlarks inhabiting the coast region of the 
State of Washington. Since that time I have been able, by special 
efforts, to gather together a considerable series from the Pacific 
slope of Washington and Oregon, which series now clearly shows 
that the bird from this region is subspecifically distinct from that 
of the interior of the United States. In view of this fact it be- 
comes necessary to separate it formally, and I therefore propose to 
eall it 
Sturnella neglecta confluenta, subsp. nov. 
NORTHWESTERN MEADOWLARK. 
Cuars. supsp.— Similar to Sturnella neglecta neglecta, but the bars on 
tail and tertials broader and much more confluent; upper parts darker 
throughout, and their black areas more extensive; yellow of under parts 
averaging darker; spots and streaks on the sides of breast, body, and 
flanks larger and more conspicuous. 
Derscription.— Type, adult male, No. 105, collection of S. F. Rathbun; 
Seattle, Washington, April 5, 1895; S. F. Rathbun. Upper parts mixed 
blackish, dark brown, umber, and buffy; pileum with a broad central 
streak of cream buff; tail brownish gray, broadly barred with brownish 
black, the bars on all but the terminal portion of the rectrices much con- 
fluent, the outer three pairs of tail-feathers extensively white; wings fus- 
cous, all the feathers margined with pale brown, the tertials heavily barred 
with blackish, the greater wing-coverts more narrowly barred on their 
exterior webs with blackish brown; edge of wing yellow; supraloral stripe, 
breast, abdomen, chin, and throat, rich yellow, this color extending later- 
ally over the greater portion of the malar region; superciliary stripe dull 
cream buff; breast and jugulum with a broad crescent of black; sides, 
flanks, and crissum, buffy or whitish, broadly streaked with dark brown 
and blackish; sides of breast with large brownish black spots; lining of 
wing dull white. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DIsTRIBUTION.— Pacific coast region of southwestern 
British Columbia and northwestern Washington, south to northwestern 
Oregon, and east to the Cascade Mountains. 
