Usually resident--sometimes goes south in late October, returning in
April.
Song--a very beautiful sweet, clear whistle--heard in the early spring
and in the autumn--usually quite silent during brooding season.
Female much paler in colour than male. General colour brown streaked
with brown and black and cream--breast and throat yellow--conspicuous
black crescent on breast--brown streak on head appearing to run through
the eyes--tail feathers edged with white, which is seen most plainly
when bird is in flight.
Food--seeds, insects, larval insects, also swallows gravel to aid in
digestion.
Nest made of grasses--built on the ground amid tall grass or
grain--usually quite skilfully hidden and arched or roofed over in a
very ingenious way.
Eggs--four in number--about an inch and an eighth in length, a pure
white, speckled with brown.
Greatest danger from snakes and field-mice.
Meadow lark is not really a lark, but belongs to the blackbird family.