GENUS 41. ALAUDA. LARK. 
SPECIES 1. M^GN^* 
MEADOW LARK. 
[Plate XIX. — Fig. 2.] 
Linn. Syst. £89 . — Crescent Stare, Jlrct. Zool. 330. 19£. — liA- 
THAM, III, 6. Var. — Le Fer-a-cheval, ou Merle a Collier dPJlme- 
rique, Buff, hi, 371. — Catesb. Car. i, pi, S3 . — Baktram, p. 
290. — Peale’s Museum, A'b. 5212. 
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 rea- 
son 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 clear- 
ly 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 favourite pla- 
ces of retreat are pasture fields and meadows, particularly the 
latter, which have conferred on them their specific name; and no 
* Mauda magna, Linn. Syst. i, p. 167. Ed. 10. — Gmel. Sysl. i, p. 801. — 
Meruld Americana torquata, Biuss. .iv. ii, p. 242. JVo. 15. — (Summer dress.) 
Sturnus htdovicianus, Linn. Syst. i, p. 290. — G.mei,. Syst. x, p. 802 Brisson, 
II, p. 449. 4. t. 42. /. 1. — Lath. hid. Orn. i, 523. — Etourneau de la Louisiane. 
Buff, hi, p. 192. — PI. Enl. 256. — (winter plumage.) 
