SOME CANADIAN BIRDS. 



the original form to such a degree as to demand a distinctive name, 

 it should be given rank an a Hpecies, that geographical varieties 

 should not be thus separated. And thus it has come about that 

 while the American Ornithologists' Union have adopted one system, 

 the British society has sot its seal of approval upon an entirely 

 different one, in which a binomial nomenclature is strictly followed. 



But to return to our meadow lark. Those birda are summer 

 visitors in Canada, reaching the country in the very early spring- 

 time, while the meadows are yet brown and patches of snow are 

 hidden amid the dells and dingles, and staying through the days 

 when astors bloom and golden rod is queen, and till later days, 

 when the hillsides are aglov/ with color and the odor of falling 

 leaves is in the air. Not until the October moon has driven away 

 the summer's softness and the summer's beauty do these songsters 

 of the meadow retreat from this northern land and fly off to their 

 winter resorts amid the rice fields of Alabama. 



Mr. Mcllwraith, in his valuable work on the birds of Ontario, 

 tells us that he finds a meadow lark occasionally wintering near his 

 Hamilton home, but these occasions are rare, though a little further 

 to the southward the occurrence of these birds during the winter 

 months is quite frequent. 



The nest of our bird is not easily found, it is hidden so skilfully 

 under a tuft of long grass, and is so covered above as to be entirely 

 concealed. The structure is neatly and compactly built of grass 

 and lined with fine blades of the same material. In this is laid the 

 four (sometimes six) almost round eggs, which have a ground of 

 bluish white, marked by many spots of reddish brown and lilac. 

 These lilac tints on the eggs of birds are not made by a different 

 pigment from that which supplies the brown spots. The pigment 

 is the same, but that which produces the lilac tint was deposited on 

 the shell before completion, and the pigment was covered by a layer 

 of the calcareous matter of which the shell is formed. Scratch the 

 brown spots with your penknife and they will disappear, indeed 

 some of these spots may be washed off", but if you scratch the lilac 

 spots you will find that color becomes darker as you remove the 

 surface. 



The size of a meadow lark is almost that of the robin, though the 

 latter is of more slender and more graceful form. The general 



