BIRDS OF NEW YORK 233 



Agelaius phoeniceus fortis Ridgway 



Thick-billed Red-wing 



Like phoeniceus but larger; bill relatively shorter and thicker, cf wing 

 4.9-5.2 inches; tail 3.5-4.1; bill, length .82-1.06, depth .53; 9 wing 4-4.3; tail 

 2.8-3.25; bill, length .68-.81, depth .45. 



This subspecies breeds from MacKenzie and southern Keewatin to northern Texas ; 

 wanders eastward dtiring migrations. Specimens showing the dimensions of this form of 

 Red-wing are occasionally taken in New York during the spring and fall migrations, 

 especially in autumn. 



Sturnella magna magna (Linnaeus) 

 Meadowlark 



Plate 75 



Alauda magna Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. 1758. Ed. 10. 1:167 

 Sturnella ludoviciana DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 138, fig. 42 

 Sturnella magna magna A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 235. No. 501 

 sturnella, Lat., diminutive of sturnus, starling; magna, Lat., large 



Description. Prevailing color of upper parts brown streaked with 

 blackish, the ground color really being black, each feather edged and 

 tipped with rufous or brown and ocherous buff; the head with j broad stripes 

 of huffy white; sides of the head and neck grayish white; 3 or 4 outer tail 

 feathers mostly white; spot in front of eye, throat, breast and belly mostly 

 bright yellow, the breast with a large black crescent; sides grayish white 

 tinged with buff, streaked with black; wing coverts grayish ash mottled 

 with blackish; lower belly white. At a distance the white tail feathers 

 are conspicuous as is also the bright yellow breast when turned toward 

 one, and the black crescent, also the brownish black head striped with 

 buff and the general striped brown and black effect of the upper part. 

 The female smaller, duller colored. In fall plumage the yellow and black 

 more or less veiled with buffy or ocherous. 



Length cf 10. 5-1 1 inches; 9 9-10.25; extent 14-16.50; wing 4.7-5; 

 tail 3.16; bill 1.4; tarsus 1.70; weight 4 to 5 ounces. 



Distribution. The Meadowlark inhabits eastern North America from 

 eastern Minnesota, southern Quebec and New Brunswick to northern 

 Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, and winters mostly from southern 

 New York and the Ohio valley to the Gulf of Mexico. In New York it 

 is a common summer resident of all parts of the State except the forested 

 portions of the Catskills, Adirondacks and Allegany highland and in the 



