92 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



An interesting question is the following : Are the 

 eastern and western meadow-larks distinct species, or 

 only varieties somewhat specialized by differences of 

 locality and environment ? It is a problem over which 

 the scientific professors have had not a little disputation. 

 My own opinion is that they are distinct species and do 

 not cohabit, and the conviction is based on some special 

 investigations, though not of the kind that are made 

 with the birds in hand. It has been my privilege to 

 study both forms in the field. In the first place, their 

 vocal exhibitions are very different, so much so as to 

 indicate a marked diversity in the organic structure of 

 their larynxes. Much as I have listened to their min- 

 strelsy, I have never known one kind to borrow from 

 the musical repertory of the other. True, there are 

 strains in the arias of the westerners that closely re- 

 semble the clear, liquid whistle of the eastern larks, but 

 they occur right in the midst of the song and are part 

 and parcel of it, and therefore afford no evidence of 

 mimicry or amalgamation. Even the trills of the grass- 

 finch and the song-sparrow have points of similarity; 

 does that prove that they borrow from each other, or 

 that espousals sometimes occur between the two species ? 



The habiliments of the two forms of larks are more 

 divergent than would appear at first blush. Above, the 

 coloration of negkcta (the western) is paler and grayer 

 than that of magna, the black markings being less con- 



