151 
MEADOW LARK. 
was deeply covered with snow. There is scarcely a market day in Phi- 
ladelphia, from September to March, hut they may he found in market. 
They are generally considered, for size and delicacy, little inferior to 
the quail, or what is here usually called the partridge, and valued ac- 
cordingly. I once met with a few of these birds in the month of Fe- 
bruary, during a deep snow, among the heights of the Alleghany between 
Shippensburgh and Somerset, gleaning on the road, in company with 
the small Snow-birds. In the states of South Carolina and Georgia, at 
the same season of the year, they swarm among the rice plantations, 
running about the yards and out-houses, accompanied by the Kildeers, 
with little appearance of fear, as if quite domesticated. 
These birds, after the building: season is over, collect in flocks; but 
seldom fly in a close compact body ; their flight is something in the man- 
ner of the grouse and partridge, laborious and steady ; sailing, and re- 
newing the rapid action of the wings alternately. When they alight on 
trees or bushes, it is generally on the tops of the highest branches, 
whence they send forth a long, clear, and somewhat melancholy note, 
that in sweetness and tenderness of expression is not surpassed by any 
of our numerous warblers. This is sometimes followed by a kind of 
low, rapid chattering, the particular call of the female; and again the 
clear and plaintive strain is repeated as before. They afford tolerably 
good amusement to the sportsman, being most easily shot while on wing ; 
as they frequently squat among the long grass, and spring within gun- 
shot. The nest of this species is built generally in, or below, a thick 
tuft or tussock of grass ; it is composed of dry grass, and fine bent laid 
at bottom, and wound all around, leaving an arched entrance level with 
the ground ; the inside is lined with fine stalks of the same materials, 
disposed with great regularity. The eggs are four, sometimes five, 
white, marked with specks and several large blotches of reddish brown, 
chiefly at the thick end. Their food consists of caterpillars, grub 
worms, beetles, and grass seeds ; with a considerable proportion of 
gravel. Their general name is the Meadow Lark; among the Virgi- 
nians they are usually called the Old field Lark. 
The length of this bird is ten inches and a half, extent sixteen and a 
half ; throat, breast, belly, and line from the eye to the nostrils, rich 
yellow ; inside lining and edge of the wing the same ; an oblong cres- 
cent of deep velvety black ornaments the lower part of the throat ; 
lesser wing-coverts black, broadly bordered with pale ash ; rest of the 
wing feathers light brown, handsomely serrated with black ; a line of 
yellowish white divides the crown, bounded on each side by a stripe of 
black intermixed with bay, and another line of yellowish white passes 
over each eye backwards ; cheeks bluish white, back and rest of the 
upper parts beautifully variegated with black, bright bay, and pale 
ochre : tail wedged, the feathers neatly pointed, the four outer ones on 
