LARK; MEADOW LARK. 357 
-garious, and social while breeding. They are said to place their nest, 
which is constructed of reeds and aquatic grasses, in tufts of reeds, and 
rank grasses. The eggs, from three to six in number, are pale grayish- 
‘green, thickly spotted with different shades of Ce Or They 
measure 1.10 by .75. 
GeNuS STURNELLA. Vieillot. 
Body stout, toes reaching beyond the tail. Tail feathers narrow, acutely pointed. 
Bill long, slender, the culmen extending backward and parting the frontal feathers; 
longer than the head, shorter than the tarsus. Inner toe longer than outer, not reach- 
_ ing base of middle claw. Hind toe a little shorter than the middle, which is equal to 
the tarsus. Hind claw nearly twice as long as the middle. Feathers of head stiffened 
and bristly. Inner secondaries nearly equal to the primaries. 
STURNELLA MAGNA (L.) Sw. 
Wieldlark; Meadowlark. 
Sturnus ludovicianus, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162. 
Sturnella ludoviciana, READ, Fam. Visitor, iii, 1853, 311; Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1853, 
395. \ ; 
Sturnella magna, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 366; Reprint, 1861, 8; Food of 
Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 567; Reprint, 1875, 7.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds 
of Cin., 1877, 9; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 176; Reprint, 10;, 
Field Notes, ib. iii, 1880, 125. 
Alauda magna, LINN US, Syst. Nat., i, 1758, 167. 
Sturnus ludovicianus, LINNZUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 290. 
Sturnella ludoviciana, SWAINSON, Fn. Bor.-Am., 1831, 282. 
Sturnella magna, BAIRD, Birds N. Am., 1858, 535. 
Above, the prevailing aspect brown. Each feather of the back blackish, with a ter- 
minal reddish-brown area, and sharp brownish-yellow borders; neck similar, the pattern 
smaller; crown streaked with black and brown, and with a pale median and superciliary 
stripe; a blackish line behind eye; several lateral tail feathers white, the others with 
the inner quills and wing-coverts barred or scolloped with black and brown or gray. 
Edge of wing, spot over eye, and under parts generally, bright yellow, the sides and 
crissum flaxen-brown, with numerous sharp blackish streaks; the breast with a large 
black crescent (obscure in the young); bill horn-color; feet light brown. Length, 10-11; 
wing, 5; tail, 34; bill, 14. Female similar, smaller, 94. 
Habitat, Eastern North America, north to Nova Scotia and latitude 03°; west to the 
prairie region, where it is gradually replaced by var. neglecta, and represented by other 
varieties in Cuba, Central America, Mexico, and South America. 
Abundant. Summer resident in Northern, in part resident in Middle, 
pnd resident, but less numerous in winter, in Southern Ohio. In this 
vicinity the Meadow Lark is most abundant from the middle of March 
to the first of November, but a few spend the severest winters here. I 
have seen them when the thermometer had recorded a temperature of 
—20° the previous night, and the ground covered with snow, apparently 
wandering in search of food. 
