ME ADO W-LARK. 41 



lark is very much the color of the dead grass that 

 covers the ground when he first comes north, and 

 of the dry stubble left after the summer mowing, 

 he is somewhat hard to see. When you have 

 found him, it is a delightful surprise to see that 



the brownish yellow disguise of his back is re- 

 lieved, not, indeed, by a sable robe like the bobo- 

 link's, but by a throat of brilliant yellow, set off 

 by a large black crescent. 



The meadow-lark has two notable characteris- 

 tics. Belonging to the blackbird family, he is a 

 walker, and when he flies you will see that he is 

 also one of the few birds marked by prominent 

 white outer tail feathers. The peculiarities of his 

 labored flight are exactly described by Shelley 



