The Birds of El Paso County, Colorado S43 



All the Redwings in the Aiken and Warren Collections 

 have recently been examined and identified .by Mr. H. C. 

 Oberholser of the Biological Survey. These included 22 speci- 

 mens from the region now under consideration, taken at va- 

 rious dates through the year from January 24 to November 

 20, and all were labeled by Mr. Oberholser as A. p. fortis. 



Stumella neglecta. Western Meadowlark. 



Summer resident ; common ; a few often spending the win- 

 ter. Arrives early in March, sometimes the last of February. 

 Departs late in October or early in November. 



One feels as if spring had really come when he hears the 

 Meadowlarks singing from the light and telephone poles in 

 town, and the fence posts along the roadside, for they are no 

 sooner here than they announce themselves with their cheery 

 notes. Found everywhere on the plains region, and in the 

 lower portions of the mountains where there are open spaces, 

 it is one of our commonest species, and most useful as well, 

 living very largely on insects of all sorts, of which it destroys 

 vast numbers in a season. 



Two broods are raised, sometimes at least. In the summer 

 of 1903 a pair nested and raised two sets of young in a vacant 

 lot at the corner of Cascade Avenue and Caramillo St., in 

 Colorado Springs, with houses all about them. September 8, 

 1904, a young bird hardly able to fly was seen on the outskirts 

 of the town. The nest is built on the ground, usually well 

 hidden in long grass, often with more or less of a dome-shaped 

 roof of grass above it. The eggs vary from four to six. June 

 4, 1909, a nest with one egg and one young bird several days 

 old was by the Canon City road several miles southwesterly 

 from Colorado Springs. 



The song of the Western Meadowlark has been the theme 

 of many writers, its beauty and variety arousing the admira- 

 tion of all who hear it.- Mrs. Sturgis has lately published a 

 little book with words and notes of a number of songs as heard 



