MEADOW LARK. 



Alauda magna. 



PLATE XXXI . T HE MEADOW LARK. 



THOUGH this well-known species cannot boast of the 

 powers of song which distinguish that " harbinger of day," 

 the Sky Lark of Europe, yet in richness of plumage, as 

 well as in sweetness of voice, (as far as his few notes ex- 

 tend,) he stands eminently its superior. He differs from 

 the greater part of his tribe in wanting the long, straight 

 hind claw, which is probably the reason why he has been 

 classed by some late naturalists with the Starlings. But 

 in the particular form of his bill, in his manners, plumage, 

 mode and place of building his nest, nature has clearly 

 pointed out his proper family. 



This species has a very extensive range, and is found in 

 Upper Canada, and in each of the states from New Hamp- 

 shire to New Orleans. Mr. Bartram also informs me that 

 they are equally abundant in East Florida. Their favor- 

 ite places of retreat are pasture fields and meadows, par- 

 ticularly the latter, which have conferred on them their 

 specific name, and no doubt supplies them abundantly 

 with the particular seeds and insects on which they feed. 

 They are rarely or never seen in the depth of the woods ; 

 unless where, instead of underwood, the ground is cov- 

 ered with rich grass, as in the Choctaw and Chickasaw 

 countries. The extensive and luxuriant prairies of the 

 West also abound with them. 



It is probable that in the more rigorous regions of the 

 north they may be birds of passage, as they are partially 

 so here ; though I have seen them among the meadows of 

 New Jersey, and those that border the rivers Delaware and 





