NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 275 



ings on the eggs of the common Red-wing ; four or five in number ; 

 size from .90 to 1.05 in length by .64 to .74 in breadth. 



500. Agelaius tricolor (Nun.) [262.] 



Tricolored Blackbird. 



Hab. Valleys of the Pacific coast, from Southern California to Western Oregon. 



This species is known as the Red-and-white-shouldered Blackbird, 

 and belongs to California and Oregon ; is especially abundant in the 

 swamps and marshes of the former State. Like the Swamp Blackbird 

 of the Eastern States, it nests in the vicinity of water, in colonies, 

 usually placing the nest in alder bushes, willows and flags. It is com- 

 posed of mud, straw and coarse grass, lined with finer fibrous material. 



The eggs are of a light blue, slightly deeper than the ground- 

 color of the Red-wing's eggs, marked around the larger end with a 

 circle of ashy-brown, sometimes black, irregular lines and blotches ; 

 four or five in number ; size i.oox .60. 



501. Sturnella magna (LINN.) [263.] 



Meadowlark. 



Hab. Eastern North America, west to the Plains, north to Canada. 



The Old Field Lark is a well-known bird in the United States 

 east of the Mississippi, breeding wherever found, from Florida and 

 Texas northward. West of the Mississippi it is replaced by the West- 

 ern form, Sturnella magna neglecta (Aud.). As its name implies, the 

 meadows and fields are its home. In almost any stretch of pasture- 

 land may be found a pair or colony of Meadowlarks, and the sweet 

 sound of their wild, ringing, and rather melancholy notes fill the air at 

 short intervals from sunrise till the gloaming. The nesting time is in 

 May, usually "beginning in the middle or latter part of the month. 

 The nest is built on the ground, in a thick tuft of grass ; it is pretty 

 compactly made of coarse, dry, wiry grasses, and lined with finer 

 blades of the same. It is usually formed with a covered entrance in 

 the surrounding withered grass through which a hidden and some- 

 times winding path is made, and generally so well concealed that the 

 nest is only to be found when the bird is flushed. 



The eggs are crystal-white, more or less thickly spotted or dotted 

 with reddish-brown and purplish , four to six in number, with great 

 variation in size, averaging i.iox.So. 



The Mexican Meadowlark, S. m. mexicana (Scl.),* inhabits the 

 lower Rio Grande Valley and Arizona, southward through Kastern and 

 Central Mexico to Costa Rica. 



* No. 501*, A. O. U. Check List. Ridg. No. 263*. 



