tones of this beautiful songster so admir- 

 ably harmonize.'' 



"This bird is abundant in California," 

 Dr. Cooper says, "and resident nearly 

 throughout the entire State. Their songs 

 are lively, sweet and varied. They sing 

 at all seasons, early and late, from the 

 ground, from the tree-top, or in the air, 

 and when unmolested are so tame as to 

 make the house-top their favorite perch. 

 Even the female has considerable musi- 

 cal power, and cheers her mate by sing- 

 ing to him while he relieves her by sit- 

 ting on the eggs. She also has a harsh, 

 petulant chirp, frequently repeated, as 

 if in anger." 



Mr. Ridgway found the Meadow Lark 

 one of the most abundant and character- 

 istic birds of California and all fertile 

 portions of the interior as far east as the 

 Missouri, and remarks that, although 

 closely resembling the Eastern bird in 

 appearance, its song is totally different, 

 not a note uttered by it having more than 

 a distant resemblance to any of the well- 

 known magna of the Eastern meadows. 

 In the depth of its tone and the charms 

 of its articulation its song is hardly ex- 

 celled, resembling very nearly the song 

 of the wood thrush. Prof. Ridgwav 

 describes its modulations as expressed bv 

 the syllables tung-tung-tungah-til lati- 

 tung, each note powerful and distinct. 

 The difference between the other notes of 

 the two birds is still greater than in their 

 song, and even in character these are not 

 alike. In the neglecta the call-note of 

 watchfulness or alarm is a loud, deep- 

 toned tuck, similar to the chuck of the 

 blackbird, but much louder and more me- 

 tallic. That of sympathy for the young. 

 or anxiety when the nest is approached, 

 is a loud, liquid tyur. slightly resembling 

 the complaining note of the eastern blue- 

 bird, and also of the orchard oriole. All 

 of its notes are of a power corresponding 

 with the size of the bird. 



"A difference in song." Dr. Coues 

 says. " 'attested by all observers from 

 Lewis and Clarke down to the present 

 day,' is very curious. * * * It has 

 often occurred to me. and I make the 

 suggestion for what it may be worth, 

 that a different acoustic property of the 

 dry, rarified air of the west may in some 

 measure determine the peculiarity of the 



song. In further illustration of this in- 

 teresting subject, I will quote the remarks 

 of Mr. Trippe, who evidently inclines to 

 keep the two forms apart." 



"If this bird is merely a variety of 

 S. magna, it is certainly a very remark- 

 able one. * * * Careful observations 

 for the last two years have convinced me 

 of the following facts, viz., that there 

 are two varieties or species of the 

 Meadow Lark in southern Iowa that 

 possess totally different songs and notes, 

 and that these differences are constant. 

 The common lark is here by far the most 

 abundant; its notes are precisely similar 

 to those of the same bird in the east, 

 and its habits, also, nearly or quite the 

 same. The Western Lark, on the con- 

 trary, never utters the peculiar, long- 

 drawn whistle of the common species — 

 at least I never heard it — and it has a 

 number of notes which the latter never 

 utters, one in particular which resembles 

 a note of the red-winged blackbird. The 

 Western Lark, like the common species, 

 has a rapid chatter, but so different in 

 every bird that I have heard that the 

 difference was at once appreciable ; in- 

 deed, it is more striking than the resem- 

 blance. I have never heard a bird whose 

 notes were intermediate between the two. 

 Here, then, we have the remarkable fact, 

 of two varieties — if they are such — of 

 the same species, existing side by side, 

 seldom or never mingling, and each pre- 

 serving its peculiar notes and habits ; yet 

 resembling each other so closely in form 

 and plumage that the most experienced 

 are unable to draw the di- 

 line between them." 



Mr. Maynard, telling of the famous 

 Indian hunting grounds of Florida, 

 which lie south of the Everglades, and 

 where prairies and woods alternate for 

 many miles, says : ''The growth of grass 

 on the margins of these plains is low, 

 seldom exceeding six inches in height, 

 and consequently forms the home of 

 countless Meadow Larks, for these birds 

 always exhibit a decided preference for 

 low herbage. The hunting grounds 

 were a perfect wilderness at the time of 

 my visit in 1 87 1, for there was but one 

 settler and he was .but newly located in 

 the neighborhood. Thus the birds that 

 occurred there were seldom if ever dis- 



ornithologist 

 viding 



174 



