ICTEUIDyK — THE OUIOLKS. I77 



Habits. Tin; (lillcicnci's of iiluma^u betwciMi ll)i.s s|io('i('s ami our casteni 

 Meadow Lark arc so slight tliat \vu iiii,L;lit licsitatu to allow the exiHtciicc of 

 any .s]ieei(ic ili.stiiictiiess between tlie two loriu-i, were it not i'or tiie very 

 strongly marked dill'erences between tlieni in otiier re.speets. ^Vlletller we 

 regard them as races or as dill'erent species, their history diverges as we cross 

 the Missouri iJiver, thciigh both arc i'ound on eitiier bank. 



The existence of tliis variety wa.s first made known by Messrs. Lewis and 

 Clark, in their memoralde expedition to the lloeky Mountains. They refer 

 especially to the ditference, in the notes, liclween this l)ird and the old Tieltl 

 Lark of the east. It remained unnoticed by our ornith(dogists \intil 184-J, 

 when Mr. Auduiion included it in the ajipcndi.x to his .s(iventli volume, lie 

 met with it in his voyage to tlie Yellowstone, and it would have escaiu'd his 

 notice had not the attention of his jiarty been callcil to its curious notes. 

 In its flight, manners on the ground, or general habits, he could perceive no 

 (lill'erence lit^tween it and tht; common species. None of its nests that lie 

 found were covered over, in tic manner of the nuii/iKt, and the eggs were 

 differently marked. 



Mr. J. A. Allen, in his interesting paper on tiie i)irds oli.served in Western 

 Iowa, wliile he does not admit any .sjiecific dillerenco lu'tween these two 

 forms, ])re.sents with impartial exactness the very striking dissimilarity iie- 

 tween tliem, both in habits and in song. In regard to the diversity in iiabita 

 we (juote his words : — 



"At tile little village of I)eni.son, where 1 first noticed it in song, it was 

 particularly common, and lialf domestic in its habits, preferring the streets 

 and gras.sy lanes, and the innuediate vicinity of tiie village, to the remoter 

 prairie. Here, wholly unmolested and unsuspicious, it collected its food ; 

 and the males, from their accustomed perclies on the houseto]is, daily wailded 

 their wild songs for hours togetlier." Tlie.se traits of familiarity, .so totally 

 different from anything ever observed in our eastern birds, he does not con- 

 cede, however, as establishing necessarily sjiecitic difference. Yet he does ad- 

 mit that its song was so new to him tliat he did not at first have the sligiitest 

 suspicion that its utterer was the western Meadow Lark, as lie found it to l)e. 

 He adds : " It differs from that of tlie iSIeadow Lark in the i-'.asterii States, 

 in the notes being louder and wilder, and at the same time more li(niid, mel- 

 lower, and far sweeter. They liave a jieiisivene.ss and a general character 

 remarkalily in liarmony witli the half-dreamy wildiie.ss of tlie primitive 

 prairie, as tiiougii the bird had received from its surroundings tiieir jjeculiar 

 impress. It differs, too, in the less freiiuency of the har.sli, complaining 

 cliattiu' .so conspicuous in the ea.stern l)ird." 



Tlie value of the.sc marked differences, lioth in song and character, between 

 tlie eastern and western birds, we will not argue, but will only add that they 

 are none too strikingly presented by ^Ir. Allen. During the writer's brief 

 visit to the I'lains he was .strongly imiiressed by the natural, confiding 

 trustfulness of this si)ecies and its wonderful beauty of song, botli in 



VOL. II. 2'd 



