Genus XLI. ALATJDA. LARK. 
Species I. A. MAGNA* 
MEADOW LARK. 
[Plate XIX. Fig. 2.] 
Linn. Syst. 289.— Crescent Stare, Arct. Zool. 330, No. 192.— Latham, hi., 6, Far. 
A.—Le Fer-d-cheval, ou Merle d Collie?' d'Amerique, Buff, hi., p. 371. — Catesb. 
Car. i., pi. 33. — Bartram, p. 290. 
Though this well-known .species cannot boast of the powers of song 
which distinguish that "harbinger of day," the Sky Lark of Europe, 
yet in richness of plumage, as well as in sweetness of voice (as far as 
his few notes extend), he stands eminently its superior. He differs from 
the greater part of his tribe in wanting the long straight hind claw, 
which is probably the reason why he has been classed, by some late 
naturalists, with the Starlings. But in the particular form of his bill, 
in his manners, plumage, mode and place of building his nest, nature 
has clearly pointed out his proper family. 
This species has a very extensive range ; having myself found them 
in Upper Canada, and in each of the states from New Hampshire to 
New Orleans. Mr. Bartram also informs me that they are equally 
abundant in East Florida. Their favorite places of retreat are pasture 
fields and meadows, particularly the latter, which have conferred on 
them their specific name ; and no doubt supply them abundantly with 
the particular seeds and insects on which they feed. They are rarely 
or never seen in the depth of the woods ; unless where, instead of under- 
wood, the ground is covered with rich grass, as in the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw countries, where I met with them in considerable numbers in 
the months of May and June. The extensive and luxuriant prairies 
between Vincennes and St. Louis also abound with them. 
It is probable that in the more rigorous regions of the north they may 
be birds of passage, as they are partially so here ; though I have seen 
them among the meadows of New Jersey, and those that border the 
rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, in all seasons ; even when the ground 
* Alauda magna, Linn. Si/st. i., p. 167, Ed. 10. — Gmel. Syst. i., p. 801. — Merula 
Americana torquata, Briss. Av. ii., p. 242, No. 15. — (Summer dress.) Sturnus 
ludovicianus, Linn. Sijst. i., p. 290. — Gmel. Si/st. r., p. 802. — Brisson, ii., p. 449, 
4, t. 42, f. 1. — Lath. Bid. Orn. i. 323. — Etoumeau de la Loui.tiane, Buff, hi., p. 
192.— PI. Enl. 256.— (Winter plumage.) 
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