BLACKBIRDS, oniomcs, are. 26;,

The nesting season is a short. one, and in July young and old begin to gather in lloeks in the marshes, where later they will be found, in Countless numbers, feeding on the wild rice.

498b. A. p. bryanti Il'it/f/ll'. Froknm lIi-mw[NIL—Similar to the preceding. but smaller, the bill much more slender: 9 With the under parts less broadly streaked with blaek. W., 3'70; T., S'SU; 1%., "Jo; depth of bill at nostril, '35.

[t‘anym-l’lorida and the Bahamas.

501. Sturnella. magna, (Lin 1).). MEADOWLARK; FIELD LARK. Ari. illNilI)LIII('I‘.#l)1‘L:\':llllllg color of the upper parts black. the erown with a bully line through the center, the back bordered and tipped with rut‘ous and bully; outer tail—feathers mostly white. middle ones with imperfect. connected bars, not reaching the outer edge of the feather; line from the bill over the eye yellow; sides of the throat and ear-eoverts whitish; throat, between the lower braneh of the under mandible, breast, and middle of the upper belly bright yellow; a black crescent on the breast; sides and lower belly whitish, spotted or streaked with black. Winter ply”Hiya—Feathers all much more widely margined. the pre 'ailing color of the upper parts rut'ous—brown; black breast crescent veiled with bully; yellow 01' under parts duller. L.,10'75; w, 4'76; T., 3'16; 13., 1-30.

Bem/rrl‘s.—This bird is to be distinguished from the western species by its much darker upper parts, by the imperfeet. eontluent tail-barsy and more espeeially by the absence of yellow on the 8111m- ot' the throat.

II)’IIIII]4’.---l‘lilfilt'l‘ll North Ameriea; breeds from the Gult'to New Brunswick and Minnesota: winters from .\lassaehust-tts and Illinois southward

“'ashinfimr common P. ll” less common in winter. Sing Sing. tolerably common S. It. Feb. ‘30 to Nov. 27: a few winter. (":unbridge. common S. R., not eonnuon \V. V. 7

Must, of grasses. frequently arched, on the ground. [fog/r. four to six, white, spotted or speekled with einnamon or reddish brown, 1‘15 x '80.

In walking: through grassy fields, meadows. or marshes. we some- times flush rather large. brownish birds. which, alternately flapping and sailing. sealo away with a flight, that suggests a Quail’s. Their white outer tail-feathers show conspicuously. and if. instead of return- ing to the ground, they alight, on a fence. or the. outer branch ofa tree, as they utter a nasal perm, they will nervously tlit their tails, display- ing the same white feathers.

\Vhen in an exposed position they are wary and (liflicult to ap- proach, but when walking about on the ground they trust to the long grasses for protection. and sometimes do not take wing until one is within a few feet of them.

ln ("uba I noticed that a Meadowlark, closely related to ours. was very careful to conceal its brightly colored breast. with its distinctly marked crescent, and. although even perehingr birds were not shy, they