Lark
Prevailing color of the upper parts grayish brown, crown with a central buffy stripe; back black, feathers widely margined with grayish brown; rump and upper tail-coverts with narrow black bars; outer tail-feathers mostly white; middle ones brownish gray, barred with black, the bars generally not connected, and as a rule reaching the margins of the feathers; line from the bill over the eye yellow; ear-coverts grayish white; throat yellow, this color reaching up on the sides of the throat and touching the earcoverts; breast and upper belly yellow, a black crescent on the breast; sides and lower belly whitish, spotted or streaked with black. Winter plumage.- Upper parts more widely margined with grayish brown, these grayish brown tips with small, broken black bars; yellow of under parts duller, the black crescent veiled with whitish. W., 4.60; T., 3.00; B., 1.25. Range." Western North America, north to British Columbia and Manitoba; east regularly to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, sparingly to Illinois and Wisconsin; south through western Mexico" (Ridgw.). The Western Meadowlark resembles the eastern bird in habits but differs from it so decidedly in song that some ornithologists consider it a distinct species and not a geographical race. In his charming biography of the Prairie Lark, Ernest E. Thompson writes: "In richness of voice and modulation it equals or excels both Wood Thrush and Nightingale, and in the power and beauty of its articulation it has no superior in the whole world of feathered choristers with which I am acquainted" (Birds of Manitoba).
The TROUPIAL (502. Icterus icterus), a South American species, was recorded by Audubon as accidental at Charleston, South Carolina. 506. Icterus spurius (Linn.). ORCHARD ORIOLE. Ad. δ.-Head, neck, throat, and upper back black; breast, belly, lower back, and lesser wing-coverts chestnut; wings and tail fuscous, more or less edged or tipped with whitish. Ad. 2.- Upper parts grayish olive-green, brighter on the head and rump; wings fuscous, middle and greater coverts tipped with whitish; tail bright olive-green; under parts dull yellow. Im. &, first year.- BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC.
Similar to the ad. 9, but with the back browner. Im. 8, second year.-Similar to the ad. 9, but with the throat black and occasionally patches of chestnut on the under parts. L., 7.32; W., 3-18; T., 2-92; B., 65.