THE MEADOWLARK Called also Field Lark and Old Field Lark American Blackbird Family--IcteridAE

Length: About 10¾ inches, a little larger than the robin; bill 1½ inches.

General Appearance: A large brown bird, with a short tail that shows conspicuous white feathers at each side in flight. The bright yellow breast crossed by a black crescent is less frequently seen.

Male and Female: Upper parts dark brown, mottled with black and buff; head striped, with a light line through the center and a yellow line over each eye, alternating with two dark stripes; cheeks gray; throat, breast, and belly yellow; a V-shaped band on breast; sides and lower part of belly whitish, streaked with black; bill long and sharp; tail short, (about 3 inches); outer tail-feathers almost entirely white; middle feathers brown, barred with black.

Call-note: A sharp nasal Yerk, and a twitter that sounds like a succession of rapid sneezes.

Song: A loud, clear, sweet refrain that usually consists of four syllables, but sometimes of five or six. It has been interpreted in various ways as follows:

Spring'-of—the-y-e'-a-r!

I love—you d-e-a-r.

I’m Mead'-ow-lar'-rk.

Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson tells of a lazy darky down South who interpreted the lark’s song as

“Laziness-will kill' you.”[66]

Flight: Direct, yet fluttering; usually away from the observer, showing the brown back and white tail-feathers, as though the bird was conscious of its bright yellow breast.

Habitat: Cultivated meadows, and grassgrown fields, especially one containing a running brook for drinking and bathing. Its fondness for unmown fields has given it the name of “Old Field Lark.”[67]

Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from eastern Minnesota and southern Canada, south to northern Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, and west to western Iowa, eastern Kansas, and northwestern Texas; winters regularly from southern New England and Ohio valley south to the Gulf States, and north locally to the Great Lakes and southern Maine.

In the South, from southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and North Carolina to the coast of Texas, Louisiana, and southern Florida is found the SOUTHERN MEADOWLARK, smaller and darker than the northern species, and with a different song.

In the West, from British Columbia to Manitoba and south to southern California, northern Mexico, and Texas is the WESTERN MEADOWLARK, similar to its eastern relative in habits and plumage, but very different as to song. Its pure, sweet, liquid notes are among my most delightful memories of western birds.

It is fortunate that no human being or bird is possessed of all the virtues and charms, and that every individual may hold his own place in our interest and affections. As the spring migrants arrive, each receives a welcome peculiarly his own.

“The lark is so brimful of gladness and love—

The green fields below him, the blue sky above,

That he sings and he sings and forever sings he,

‘I love my love, and my love loves me.’”[68]

His voice, clear and sweet, rings out joyously across the fields, fragrant with up-turned earth and bright with sunshine. He is the delight of spring meadows as Bob White is of summer fields.

The meadowlark has many friends: those who love him for his winning ways—his brightness, cheerfulness, and devotion to his family; epicures, ignorant of his value or fond only of their own pleasure; and people who realize that he is of enormous economic importance.

He was formerly believed to be a destroyer of grain. He was accused of pulling up as much corn and oats as crows, and of eating clover seed; but he is now recognized as “one of the most useful allies of agriculture, standing almost without a peer as a destroyer of noxious insects.”[69]

So untiring is he in his search, that he uses his long sharp bill, even while snow is on the ground, to probe the earth for larvÆ. He rids the fields of grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, caterpillars, flies, spiders, and “thousand-legs.” Grasshoppers are his favorite delicacy. Professor Beal states that these insects form three-fourths of the meadowlark’s food during August. He eats also large numbers of the white grubs of beetles “which are among the worst enemies of many cultivated crops, notably grasses and grains, and to a less extent of strawberries and garden vegetables.”[69]

Like the quail, meadowlarks destroy weed seeds, which are eaten mostly in winter. When insects are obtainable, they are greatly preferred.

A search for a meadowlark’s nest is an exciting adventure that keeps one alert. It is usually found by accident, perhaps after the wary builder has ceased trying to deceive the searcher. A sight of the speckled eggs or young fledglings in their cozy home with a grass-arched doorway is not soon forgotten.

Unlike quail, baby meadowlarks are unable to run about as soon as they are out of the egg, but remain for two weeks in their cleverly camouflaged home, where they are often the prey of snakes and other enemies. Meadowlarks are now being widely protected, for many farmers regard them as one of their greatest assets.

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