LAND BIRDS. 147 
to travelled roads, and even in parks and on lawns wherever it finds itself 
safe from persecution. Its beautiful plumage, attractive notes, and great 
economic value commend it alike to all classes and situations and it should 
be most rigidly protected and encouraged. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Upper parts mainly black, streaked, spotted, and imperfectly barred 
with grayish-brown; crown mainly black, with a median whitish stripe; a similar light 
stripe runs backward from the eye, with a narrow black stripe below it, dividing it from 
the cheeks and auriculars, which are also grayish white; a bright yellow line from nostril 
to eye; chin, throat, breast, belly and bend of wing, rich yellow, the yellow of the throat 
not extending laterally onto the malar region; chest with a conspicuous black crescent 
separating the yellow of throat and breast; sides and flanks heavily streaked with black 
and grayish-white; two or three outermost pairs of tail-feathers pure white on inner webs; 
bill brown, horn-colored at base; iris brown. 
Adult female: Smaller and duller, the black above not so deep, and the yellow of throat 
and breast paler. Young birds resemble the female, and for a time show no black collar, 
or only a series of black spots there. In autumn all specimens have the black and yellow 
markings much veiled or overlaid by the broad ashy tips and margins of the feathers; these 
wear off almost entirely before the breeding season. 
Male: Length 9.50 to 11 inches; wing 4.40 to 5; culmen 1.20 to 1.52. Female: Length 
8 to 10 inches; wing 3.95 to 4.30; culmen 1.04 to 1.17. 
201. Western Meadowlark. Sturnella neglecta Audubon. (501b) 
Synonyms: Common Meadowlark, Field Lark, or Lark, of the West.—Sturnella neglecta 
of Aud. and most authors until about 1870.—Sturnella magna neglecta of most recent 
writers. 
So similar to the eastern Meadowlark as to be separable with difficulty 
except by the expert. The western form is decidedly paler both above 
and below, having a peculiar bleached appearance, which, however, is 
also found sometimes in specimens of the eastern form when in worn 
plumage. In size the two forms are nearly alike, but the western form 
averages a little larger. 
Distribution.—Western United States, from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, 
Texas, etc., west to the Pacific Coast and north to British Columbia and 
Manitoba, south through central and western Mexico. 
The only unquestioned record of this species for the state is that of a pair 
seen near Palmer, Marquette county (Upper Peninsula), on May 10, 1894, 
by Mr. Oscar B. Warren. One of these birds was secured and the skin is 
now in the College collection. The species has been reported at various 
times by different observers in widely separated parts of the state, but 
we have no specimens to confirm any of these observations and it seems 
almost certain that the birds reported by Dr. Atkins from Ingham county, 
and by Covert from other parts of the state, were simply ordinary eastern 
Meadowlarks in somewhat unfamiliar plumage. 
Similar as the two forms are in plumage and general habits, they differ 
remarkably in song. The present species, on its natural nesting grounds 
west of the Mississippi, has a beautiful warbling song, suggesting somewhat 
that of the Baltimore Oriole, but much more prolonged and sometimes 
almost rivalling that of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Even the imperfect 
autumnal song, which the writer has heard many times on the Minnesota 
prairies in September, is utterly unlike anything which the eastern bird 
ever produces, and it would seem impossible that the two birds could be 
confounded if one were familiar with their songs. 
