458 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



covered several small trees by the roadside. In all the number there was not a 

 single adult bird." 1 



The general habits, food, etc., of the Tricolored Blackbird are very similar 

 to those of the eastern Redwing, but their notes are said to be quite different. 

 The young seem to be fed almost entirely on grasshoppers, and an immense 

 number of these insects must be yearly destroyed by them, which fully counter- 

 balances the trifling damage they may occasionally commit in the grain fields. 



From one to four eggs are laid, sets of three usually prevailing, and two 

 broods are probably raised each year; the breeding season appears to be at its 

 height during the first week in May. 



The eggs resemble those of the Red-winged Blackbird in shape and gen- 

 eral style of markings, averaging a trifle smaller, however; and both the ground 

 color and the markings appear (at least in the majority of specimens before me) 

 to be somewhat paler than in the eggs of the former, but there is not sufficient 

 difference to require a special description. 



The average measurement of forty-one specimens in the United States 

 National Museum collection is 23.94 by 17.15 millimetres, or about 0.94 by 

 0.67 inch. The largest egg in the series measures 26.42 by 17.78 millimetres, 

 or 1.04 by 0.70 inches; the smallest, 21.59 by 16.51 millimetres, or 0.85 by 

 0.65 inch. 



The type specimens, Nos. 25354 and 25356 (PI. 6, Figs. 18 and 19), both 

 from the Ralph collection, each from a set of three eggs and representing the two 

 prevailing styles of coloration, were taken near Lakeside, San Diego County, 

 California, on May 4, 1890. 



179. Sturnella magna (Linn^us). 



MEADOWLARK. 



Alauda magna Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. 10, 1, 1758, 167. 

 Sturnella magna Swainson, Philosophical Magazine, I, 1827, 436. 

 (B 406, C 214, R 263, C 320, U 501.) 



Geographical range: Eastern North America; north in the Dominion of Canada 

 to southern Nova Scotia, southern New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern Mani- 

 toba. West to Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas. 

 South to Florida and the Gulf coast. Accidental in England. 



The well-known Meadow or Old Field Lark is a constant resident south of 

 latitude 39°, and many winter farther north in favorable localities. It breeds 

 throughout its range, excepting the western parts of the Indian Territory and 

 western Texas, and in suitable places it is quite common. In our Northern 

 States and the southern parts of the Dominion of Canada it is only a summer 

 resident, arriving usually about April 1 and remaining ordinarily until the latter 

 part of October and occasionally into November; while in the northeastern 

 portions of its range it is nowhere common. Excepting during the breeding 



'Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Wheeler, Appendix JJ, 1876, p. 249. 



