242 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 







(A common summer-resident of New England, and known 

 to have occurred here in winter.) 



(a). About 10 inches long. Upper parts, sides, etc., brown, 

 with much pale edging, and blackish chiefly in streaks. Outer 

 tail-feathers, largely white. Median and superciliary lines, 

 pale ; a part of the latter, the edge of the wing, and the under 

 parts, bright yellow, with a black crescent on the breast. The 

 female is rarely more than ten inches long. 



(6). The nest is built often on or beside a tussock, and 

 usually on or near a meadow. It is composed chiefly of grass, 

 except perhaps the lining, and is often ingeniously concealed 

 by a more or less perfect arch. The eggs of each set are four, 

 or sometimes five, average 1'IOX'BO of an inch, though variable 

 in size, and are white, marked with (reddish-) brown and lilac, 

 sometimes finely and faintly, though occasionally with splashes. 

 They are laid near Boston in the latter part of May, though 

 possibly a second set may be laid later. 



(c). During what are called the "open" winters, the 

 Meadow Larks may be found scattered throughout southern 

 New England, where they are common in summer even so far 

 to the northward as the White Mountains. Usually, however, 

 they appear in Massachusetts about the middle of March, and 

 they may then be found in almost every broad meadow which 

 is bordered by rising ground. Though they often perch in tall 

 trees and in bushes, yet they are most often upon the ground, 

 where, like the true larks, they walk and do not hop. They 

 obtain their food, which consists of insects and seeds, from 

 meadows, fields, and occasionally ploughed land. They fly 

 with a rapid but intermittent quivering of their wings, usually 

 near the ground, but not unfrequently at a considerable height. 

 They are, when mated, very affectionate, often flying to meet 

 one another, or calling back and forth. They are also shy, 

 rarely admitting a near approach, and they frequently conceal 

 their nest by an arch of the long grass in which it is usually 

 built. In autumn, when collected in flocks, they are some- 

 times pursued by gunners, from whom, I suppose, they have 

 received the name of " Marsh Quail," which is not altogether 



