252 Bird Studies. 



lects, which grade into one another, but which in their extremes have no 



resemblance. 



i 



The Meadowlark is a bird nearly eleven inches long. Its prevailing 

 tone above consists of blacks, browns, and dry grass colors, difficult to 

 describe in detail, but forming on the whole a general streaked effect. 

 There is a narrow line of buff dividing the brown crown into two distinct 

 halves, each of which is bordered by a broader buff stripe, which becomes 

 bright yellow just above the eye and reaches in front of it to the bill. 

 The eyelids, the sides of the face and the region about the ears are 

 grayish. There is a distinct dark brown stripe beginning back of each eye 

 and extending back on the sides of the head. The throat and breast, chest 

 and belly are bright yellow. This is broken on the upper breast by a broad 

 black crescent shaped mark. The middle tail feathers and the exposed sur- 

 faces of the wings are colored much like the back but are brokenly barred trans- 

 versely instead of longitudinally. The outer tail feathers are partly white 

 on both the inner and outer webs. The sides and flanks are buff deeply and 

 clearly streaked with dusky brown markings. In the winter the birds are 

 duller and browner having a general suffusion of that color effected by the 

 brownish edging to the feathers. The yellow breast and the black crescent 

 are obscured in the same way. 



The nest is built on the ground concealed by the tall grass of early 

 summer. It is made of grasses throughout and is sometimes partly roofed 

 with a semi-down of the same material. From four to six white eggs 

 speckled with reddish brown are laid. These are about an inch and an 

 eighth long and four fifths of an inch broad. The birds are generally dis- 

 tributed throughout Eastern North America from Southern Canada south- 

 ward and west to the Great Plains. In the extreme north they are migratory 

 but begin to winter from Massachusetts and Illinois southward and it seems 

 probable that birds from the latitude of New Jersey south are resident. 



This is the geographical race of the Field Lark that is found 



throughout Western North America from British Columbia southward. 



They are found eastward regularly to Kansas and Texas 



Meadowlark anc ^ ^ ess common ly in Wisconsin and Illinois. They are 



stumeiia magna negiecta Bather larger birds than their allies. The prevailing tones 



of color above are lighter, and the barring on the wings 



and tail is distinct and not broken or interrupted as in the representatives 



