276 



AMERICAN ORNl THOLOG V. 



Photo by J. T. Little. 



NEST AND EGGS OF WESTERN MEADOWLARK. 



I have never known the western lark to steal or mimic the tune of his 

 fellow-piper. 



■ To the statement just made, honesty compels me to admit one appa- 

 rent exception, which will appear from the following quotation from my 

 Oklahoma notes: "The next morning shortly after daybreak a meadow 

 lark burst into an aria that was new to me, neither the song of the 

 eastern or the western type, but a kind of combination of the two; this 

 for a few minutes, and then the merry piper glided into the piercing- 

 melody of a genuine 'down easterner.' Does this incident prove that 

 the species sometimes get their songs confused, or that they purpose- 

 ly mimic each other? That problem remains to be solved by the future 

 student." 



