242 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
(A common summer-resident of New England, and known 
to have occurred here in winter.) 
(a). About 101 inches long. Upper parts, sides, etc. , brown, 
with much pale edging, and blackish chiefly in streaks. Outer 
tail-feathers, largely white. Median and superciliary lines, 
pale; a part of the latter, the edge of the wing, and the under 
parts, bright yellow, with a black crescent on the breast. The 
female is rarely more than ten inches long. 
(b). The nest is built often on or beside a tussock, and 
usually on or near a meadow. It is composed chiefly of grass, 
except perhaps the lining, and is often ingeniously concealed 
by a more or less perfect arch. The eggs of each set are four, 
or sometimes five, average 1:10 -80 of an inch, though variable 
in size, and are white, marked with (reddish-) brown and lilac, 
sometimes finely and faintly, though occasionally with splashes. 
They are laid near Boston in the latter part of May, though 
possibly a second set may be laid later. 
(c). During what are called the “open” winters, the 
Meadow Larks may be found scattered throughout southern 
New England, where they are common in summer even so far 
to the northward as the White Mountains. Usually, however, 
they appear in Massachusetts about the middle of March, and 
they may then be found in almost every broad meadow which 
is bordered by rising ground. Though they often perch in tall 
trees and in bushes, yet they are most often upon the ground, 
where, like the true larks, they walk and do not hop. They 
obtain their food, which consists of insects and seeds, from 
meadows, fields, and occasionally ploughed land. They fly 
with a rapid but intermittent quivering of their wings, usually 
near the ground, but not unfrequently at a considerable height. 
They are, when mated, very affectionate, often flying to meet 
one another, or calling back and forth. They are also shy, 
rarely admitting a near approach, and they frequently conceal 
their nest by an arch of the long grass in which it is usually 
built. In autumn, when collected in flocks, they are some- 
times pursued by gunners, from whom, I suppose, they have 
received the name of ‘Marsh Quail,” which is not altogether 
