Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



trees, in buildings, or hollow wooden columns, only one of 

 which they intend to use. Six white eggs is the proper number 

 for a household, but Dr. Coues says the female that has been 

 robbed keeps on laying three or even four sets of eggs without 

 interruption. 



Meadowlark 



{Sturnella magna) Blackbird family 



Called also: FIELD LARK; OLDFIELD LARK 



Length — 10 to 1 1 inches. A trifle larger than the robin. 



Male — Upper parts brown, varied with chestnut, deep brown, and 

 black. Crown streaked with brown and black, and with a 

 cream-colored streak through the centre. Dark-brown line 

 apparently running through the eye ; another line over the 

 eye, yellow. Throat and chin yellow ; a large, conspicuous 

 black crescent on breast. Underneath yellow, shading into 

 buffy brown, spotted or streaked with very dark brown. 

 Outer tail feathers chiefly white, conspicuous in flight. Long, 

 strong legs and claws, adapted for walking. Less black in 

 winter plumage, which is more grayish brown. 



Female — Paler than male. 



Range — North America, from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and westward to the plains, where the Western meadowlark 

 takes its place. Winters from Massachusetts and Illinois 

 southward. 



Migrations — April. Late October. Usually a resident, a few re- 

 maining through the winter. 



In the same meadows with the red-winged blackbirds, birds 

 of another feather, but of the same family, nevertheless, may be 

 found flocking together, hunting for worms and larvae, building 

 their nests, and rearing their young very near each other with 

 the truly social instinct of all their kin. 



The meadowlarks, which are really not larks at all, but the 

 blackbirds' and orioles' cousins, are so protected by the coloring 

 of the feathers on their backs, like that of the grass and stub- 

 ble they live among, that ten blackbirds are noticed for every 

 meadowlark, although the latter is very common. Not until you 

 flush a flock of them as you walk along the roadside or through 

 the meadows and you note the white tail feathers and the black 

 crescent* on the yellow breasts of the large brown birds that ris» 



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