222 VERTEBRATES ! BIRDS. 



The Meadow Lark, S. magna, Sw v of North America 

 east of the Central Plains, is over ten and a half inches 

 long, the wing five inches ; the upper parts are brown mark- 

 Fig. 124. ed with brown- 

 ish white, and the 

 exposed portions 

 of the wings and 

 tail with trans- 

 verse dark brown 

 bars ; the under 

 parts yellow, with 

 a black pectoral 



Meadow-Lark, JT. magna, Sw. CrCSCCnt. \Vhen 



this bird first rises from the ground, it flutters like 

 a young bird, then proceeds generally in a straight 

 course, now checking its speed, now resuming it, as 

 if undecided whether to move fast or slow. When 

 pursued by the hunter, it moves more swiftly, alter- 

 nately sailing and beating with its wings till it is beyond 

 the reach of harm. The nest is built at the foot of a 

 tuft of grass in a cavity scooped out of the ground. It 

 is covered over, except an entrance just large enough to 

 admit one bird at a time ; eggs four or five, pure white, 

 sprinkled and blotched with reddish brown. Both birds 

 engage in the work of incubation. 



The Western Lark, 5. neglecta, Aud., of Western North 

 America, is ten inches long, and the wing five and a quar- 

 ter inches, and very closely resembles the preceding. 



The Genus Icterus has the bill slender, very acute, and 

 as long as the head and a little decurved ; the claws 

 short and much curved ; prevailing colors yellow, orange, 

 and black. 



The Troupial, /. vulgaris, Daudin, of South America 

 and the West Indies, and accidental in the United States, 

 is ten inches long, and the wing four and a half inches ; 



