MEADOW LARK. 
313 
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 melan- 
choly 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 gunshot. 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 the 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 Virginians, 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 crescent 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 
each side, nearly all white ; sides, thighs, and vent, pale yellow 
