612 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
The eggs, three to five in number, are very different from those 
of the preceding species. In color they are light blue, variously 
spotted and streaked with purple and black. The size is about 
1.04x.75. Nests containing eggs were observed from the last 
week in May to June 17. 
501b. Western Meadowlark. 
Stw'nella magna neglecta (Aud.). 
The Western Meadowlark was ever present in the low prairie 
tracts. The bird seems to delight in perching on a fence or more 
elevated stand, as a telegraph wire, and giving its clear, whistling 
note. 
The nest of the Western Meadowlark is rather hard to dis¬ 
cover, so carefully is if hidden in the long grass; but the bird is a 
close sitter and frequently reveals the situation of her treasures 
by flying from; the nest almost at your feet. It is generally 
situated at the base of a bunch of grass and, frequently, some 
of the grass blades are so bent over as to form a more or less 
complete covering or dome. The nest is not a bulky, thick- 
walled affair but is rather frail, the walls being closely woven of 
grass blades. It is occasionally sunk into a slight depression 
at the side of a hummock. 
The eggs are five or six in number. A nest found on May 17 
contained six eggs in which incubation had commenced. The 
color of the eggs is white, thickly spotted with different shades 
of reddish-brown and purple. The spots are, with the exception 
of a few, quite small and scattered over the whole surface but 
rather more thickly about the larger end. The six eggs measure, 
respectively, 1.10x.85; 1.15x.86; 1.15x.85; 1.16x.82, 1.17x.87 
and 1.16x88 inches. 
511b. Bronzed Grackle. 
Quiscalus quiscula aeneus (Itidgw.). 
The Crow Blackbird, as the Grackle is commonly called, was 
found in large numbers. About the numerous sloughs fringed 
with willows the hoarse note of the Grackle could be heard 
mingling with the shriller notes of the Bjed-wing. The birds 
frequently nest in colonies, the low scrubby trees and bushes on 
