192 ICTERUS SPURIUS, ORCHAKD ORIOLE. 



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, raritied air of the West may in somo 

 measure determine the peculiarity of the soug. In further ilhistration of this inter-, 

 esting 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 remarkable one. 

 t » » » Careful observations for the last two years have convinced me of the fol- 

 lowing facts, viz., that there are two varieties or species of the Meadow-lark m 

 Southern Iowa, that possess totally different songs and notes, and that these differ- 

 ences are constant. The Common Lark is here by far the most abundant; its noteg 

 aie precisely similar to those of the same bird in the East, and its habits, also, nciirly 

 or quite the same. The Western Lark, on the contrary, 7ievcr 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 chat- 

 ter, but so different, in every bird that I have heard, that the difference was at once 

 appreciable; indeed, it is more striking than the resemblance. The Western Lark is 

 here quite a timid species, compared with the other at least, which is quite as tame as 

 the Bluebird or Chipping Sparrow. The former is never heard after the Ist of Septem- 

 ber, although it arrives as soon as, or a little before, the other — early in March — while 

 the latter remains until November. I have never heard a bird whose notes were inter- 

 mediate 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 preserving its peculiar notes and habits ; yet resembling each other so closely 

 in form and plumage that the most experienced ornithologists are unable to draw the 

 dividing line between them." 



In Dakota, along the Red River, I found S. neglecta alone, altho'igh the Fauna there 

 is almost exclusively Eastern. The same was the case at Fort Randall, and, in fact, 

 all along that portion of Dakota towards Sioux City, Iowa, where the birds are ex- 

 ceedingly numerous — perhaps the most abundant of all the prairie species. They 

 reach this locality early in April, and soon begin to sing. In May we cannot ride a 

 mile anywhere without seeing them, while their peculiar notes, one of the most de- 

 Jightful voices of the prairie, are continually heard. In April, before pairing, hun- 

 dreds used to frequent daily the parade-ground of Fort Randall, where, as the grass 

 was yet scarcely sprouted, good opportunity was offered of observing their character- 

 istic habit — one not so generally known as it should be, since it is related to the 

 peculiar shape of the bill. The birds may be seen scattered all over the ground, busily 

 tugging at something ; and on walking over the scene of their operations, the ground, 

 newly-softened by the spring thaw, is seen to be riddled with thousands of little holes, 

 which the birds make in se.irch of food. These holes are quite smooth — not a turning 

 over of the surface of the ground, but a clean boring, like that made by sinking in 

 the end of a light walking-stick ; just as if the birds inserted the bill and then worked 

 it about till the hole was of suiBcient size. Whether they bored at random, or were 

 guided by some sense in tinding their prey, and what particular objects they were 

 searching for, I did not ascertain ; but the habit was so fixed and so continually per- 

 severed in as to attract general attention. Silent, or nearly so, upon their first arrival, 

 the birds became highly musical during April, singing in rival groups from the trees 

 and fences in the intervals of their search for food ; and at length they paired and 

 scattered over the prairie to breed. >> one pass the winter in this latitude ; they depart 

 late in October. Further west, on the boundless prairie, they occur everywhere, but 

 not, according to my observations at least, in such large numbers as they do about 

 settlements, since they appear to prefer more fertile regions, where, doubtless, their 

 food is most plenty. 



ICTERUS SPURIUS, (Linn.) Bp. 

 Orchard Oriole; Chestnut Hangnest. 



a. spurius. 



Oriolus spurius, Li^TC., Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 162.— Gm., i, 178^!, 389. 



Icterus spurius, Bp., Syn. 1828, 51; List, 1838, 29.— Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 165.— AuD., Orn. 

 Biog. i, 1831, 221 ; v, 1839, 485 ; pi. 42.— AvD., Syn, 1839, 144.— AtJD., B. Am. iv, 

 1842, 46, pi. 219.— GiR., B. L. I. 1844, 144.— Bd., B. N. A. 18oS, 547.— C iss., Pr. 

 Phila. Acad. 1860, 140 (Atrato).— ScL., P. Z. S. 1856, 301 (Cordova); 1H59, 

 365 (Xalapa) ; 1859, 380.— Lawr., Ann. Lye. viii, 1865, 177 (New Granada).- 

 MclLWr.., Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1866, 90 (Canada, casual). — Coues, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 

 1866, 285 (Southern New England). — Su.AncH., Mem. Bost. Soc. 1869, 553 (Ori- 

 zaba).— Teippk, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872, 239 (Iowa, breeding).— Allex, Bull. M. C. 

 Z. iii, 1872, 17-< (Kansas and Colorado). — Skov:, B. Kans. 1873, 8.— Coues, Key, 

 1872, 158.-B. B. & g,/^^y^g^ l^mt^ShM' '■ *' "' ^ ' "°^ "^ '""«' '^"''^°'^«- 



