C. N. Allen 071 Songs of the Western Meadow Lark. 145 



Massachusetts. In one of the early numbers of the Bulletin 

 (Vol. II, No. 3, p. 84), however, Mr. Deane announced the 

 occurrence near Boston of several young birds which were taken 

 in June and July, and hence the present record will not be entirely 

 unexpected. In this connection it is scarcely worth while to. 

 consider the supposed Saw-whet's egg which Minot mentions* 

 as '"found in a pine-wood near Boston, .... lying on the ground 

 (not far from a tree in which a Saw-whet had previously been 

 seen)." This record, with many similar ones by the same author. 

 may simply be ignored as unworthy the attention of the careful 

 student of ornithology. 



SONGS OF THE WESTERN MEADOW LARK 

 (STLTRNELLA NEGLECTA). 



BY CHARLES N. ALLEN. 



No. 1. (See next page.) The song which first called my atten- 

 tion to the Western Meadow Lark. 



Nos. 2, 12, 23. Alike in time and'form but somewhat unlike 

 in melody. 



No. 6. An odd melody, but a common one, usually followed 

 by a short musical gurgle which I cannot reduce to musical char- 

 acters. 



No. 1 1 . Finished by singing the last three notes an octave 

 lower than the first part leads one to expect. 



No. 20. One of four distinct and dissimilar melodies sung by 

 one bird without leaving his perch. 



No. 24. The singer passes from "G " to ik D" with a sweep, 

 as is often done on a violin. 



No. 25. A part of the Lark's soft song. This is very in- 

 complete, but gives some idea of the song. It was caught by 

 me in four detached portions, and I am not sure that I have them 

 in the right order. The notes are correct, though their sequence 

 may be wrong. All the other songs in this paper belong to the 

 loud class. I am inclined to think that if the Meadow Lark's 

 soft song were familiarly known, his reputation as a singer would 



* Land anil Game Birds of" New England, p. 334. 



