6 THE \Wuitson Burtetin, No: 74: 
The meadowlark, normally a dominant species on the prairies 
of Illinois, is, this year at least, merely a secondary species in 
this vicinity. It cccurs very sparingly in the prairie swamp 
near Topeka, but prefers the crop areas to the bunchgrass 
prairies. On two occasions there was good evidence that the 
meadowlark in the bunchgrass was the western meadowlark 
(Sturnella neglecta), a thoroly typical form of such habitats, 
but as the birds did not sing and were very wary of approach, 
it was impossible to settle the question absolutely. 
Aside from the dominant species which make up the greater 
number of individuals, there are but few secondary species 
occurring in the bunchgrass and blowouts. Of these the most 
frequent is the mourning dove, which is quite often flusht 
from the bunchgrass, but no chances were afforded of deter- 
mining whether these birds were feeding or not. The re- 
maining birds cccurring in this association are more typical 
of other associations and their occurrence in the bunchgrass 
is more or less accidental. Such are the bob-whites, English 
sparrows and the crows, especially in the vicinity of the oak 
woods. Others such as the brown thrasher and mockingbird 
are purely accidental in such locations. 
In the following tables the avian composition of each plant 
group is shown, together with the status of each bird in it. Pre 
ceding the name of the bird is a letter indicating the ecological 
status of the bird in that association. 
dof primary importance or abundance —a dominant species. 
sof secondary importance or abundance. 
t=of tertiary abundance but frequently associated with suc- 
eessions in the plant associations. 
a=of accidental occurrence. 
Following the name of the bird is a symbol indicating the life 
activities and a statement of the abundance of the bird in the 
plant group under consideration. The summer life activities of the 
birds are classified under three heads, which are indicated as fol- 
lows: 
i= uestiag yvetlivities, 
f — feeding activities, 
r—other activities, such as resting, sleeping, playing, ete. 
