walked through the high grass around Lake Audubon, I now and then flushed a few 

 Savanna Sparrows. In the long-leaved pines Blue Jays were screaming all day long. 

 A pair of Shrikes was always near me while planting or walking around. When I sat 

 down underneath a dense oak in the twilight of evening to observe the fiery and golden 

 hues of the western sky, or when my eyes to the east fell on the quiet waters of the 

 lake and the floral beauty around me, these birds, rather curious than confiding, uttered 

 a number of peculiar notes, many of them imitations of the song of other birds. A few 

 Mockingbirds were seen in the dense oaks and in the ornamental shrubs, but they were 

 perfectly quiet. Ground Doves {Colambigallina passerina) were common among the 

 grass of the orange grove and in the garden, and flocks of Mourning Doves {Zenaida 

 zenaida) and Florida Bobwhites {Colinus virginianus Aoridanus) wei-e abundant also. 

 The plaintive pe-wee of the Phoebe was almost constantly heard throughout the day 

 in the ornamental trees. On the place, which consists of thirty-five acres, of which 

 fifteen are planted in orange trees, ten consist of water, and ten are reserved for a wild 

 garden and ornamental purposes, shooting and hunting is not allowed. All the birds 

 feel perfectly safe, but I am unable to account for their scarcity. 



The most abundant and conspicuous bird during the entire month of November 

 was our familiar and beautiful Meadowlark, Meadow Starling, Fieldlark or Old Field- 

 lark, an old favorite of mine. It was seen in troops of from five to twenty and more, 

 and its song was heard almost incessantly. They frequently visited the garden, but 

 were most numerous in the grass of the orange plantation. They often perched near 

 me on a tree or on the latticed sheds, uttering their sweetest notes. Without the pre- 

 sence of these birds the place would have been well-nigh dead and desolate. They were 

 all the time busily searching for food, which consists almost entirely of insects and of 

 the seeds of all kinds of weeds. I observed them frequently in the act of catching the 

 very large, awkward and exceedingly noxious lubber grasshoppers {Romalea microptera) , 

 and they also relish the very nutritious seeds of the sand-spur, one of the vilest weeds of 

 the orange groves. I w^as informed that these birds are common summer residents in 

 this part of Florida, though not so numerous as in winter. 



The Meadowlark has a very extensive range of distribution, breeding from Florida 

 and Texas to Nova Scotia and the Saskatchewan region and from the Atlantic to 

 the Plains. 



In the far West it is replaced by the Western Meadowlark, and in the Sbuth-west 

 by the Mexican Meadowlark, both local varieties and very similar to the true species. 

 I have found it a numerous summer sojourner from Wisconsin to Texas and Florida, 

 being everywhere a common summer resident where it is protected and cherished. While 

 it is a very familiar and confiding bird in many regions of the Central and Western 

 States, east of the Plains, it is said to be shy, of retiring habits, and rarely seen in the 

 vicinity of houses in New England and other parts of the East. This is doubtless due 

 to the senseless and merciless slaughtering of these beautiful and extremely beneficial 

 birds in the neighborhood of cities and towns, where so-called "hunters" are loafing 

 through all the fields and woodlands to deprive our landscapes of their charming bird- 

 life. In many places in the West the Meadowlark is highly appreciated for its beauty, 

 familiarity, and song, and for its pleasant manners and its utility. 



J 



