( H8 ) 



the same color ; a line behind the eye black ; wings dark brown, 

 the outer webs of the secondaries lighter, and barred with black ; 

 outer three tail feathers white, with a longish spot of black on the 

 outer web near the end ; fourth feather with a large portion of the 

 inner web brown ; the rest dark brown, their edges lighter. 

 Length ten inches and a half, wing four and three quarters. 



With us, this common bird is a constant resident. The pasture 

 fields and meadows are its favorite resort, and furnish an abundant 

 supply of seeds and insects, which constitute its food. It has little 

 to recommend it to our notice, excepting its rich plumage. Its song 

 consists of a few rather melancholy notes. Its flesh, though es- 

 teemed by many, is generally tough, unless when young — and 

 then it has nothing of a game flavor. It sometimes perches on 

 trees, usually selecting the higher branches ; it procures its food on 

 the ground, and prefers to build its nest there— and often chooses a 

 tiift of grass for that purpose, where it lays four or five white eggs, 

 marked with reddish-brown. 



The Meadow Lark is distributed throughout the United States, 

 and it is said to range over the whole of the continent. 



