AMERICAN ORNITHOL OGY. 

 MEADOWLARK. 



115 



A. O. V. JSTo. 501. iSturnella magna.) 



RANGE. 



Southern Canada and eastern United States, west to the Plains. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length, about 10 in.; extent, 17 in.; tail, 3.5 in. Legs, brownish yel- 

 low. Eye, brown. Bill, light horn color. 



Male. — Above dark brown, streaked and barred with brownish white. 

 Top of head streaked with brown and black. Wings and tail, with the 

 exception of the outer feathers, buff barred with dark brown. Outer tail 

 feathers white. Throat and breast rich yellow, changing to a lighter 

 shade below. Sides buff streaked with brown. A light stripe through 

 the middle of crown and over the eye. That portion of the latter stripe 

 between the eye and bill is yellow. 



Female. — A little paler than the male. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



Nesting commences about the middle of May. The nest is made of 

 coarse grass outside and lined with finer, it is almost always concealed 

 in a tussock of grass. The eggs are from four to six in number, creamy 

 white sprinkled with brown and purple. 



HABITS. 



Hark! A loud shrill whistle comes gun, 1 had the same insane desire 



from the meadow. The Meadow- 

 lark is up and about his day's work 

 long before the majority of mankind 

 have awakened from dreamland. 

 Many a morning have I been roused 

 by the welcome and unmistakable 

 call of these handsome birds. They 

 are quite commonly called "Marsh 

 Quails," because of a similarity in 

 the markings on the backs of these 

 two birds. 



Once, (but before my time) 1 

 presume they had little fear of man, 

 but having seen many of their kind 

 fall before the gun, they have come 

 to regard all mankind as their ene- 

 mies. 1 am sorry to say that when 

 1 first became the possessor of a 



to k'ill all living creatures, that is 

 common to all boys. It was my 

 ambition to kill one of these senti- 

 nels of the field. I did not succeed 

 then, but 1 remember the chase that 

 one led me, back and forth from 

 one end of a half mile long field to 

 the other, until I was thoroughly 

 tired out. I think he enjoyed it. 

 He ought to have any way. 



With the sun full on their bright 

 yellow breast and throat, they can 

 be seen at quite a distance. Most 

 always, however, they keep in the 

 taller grass and only expose their 

 heads to view at times in order to 

 see if anyone is coming. 



Mistaking the identity of a 



