"Not an inch of his body is free from delight.
Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!
The music stirs in him like wind through a tree."
The well known Meadow or Old Field Lark is a constant resident south
of latitude 39, and many winter farther north in favorite localities.
Its geographical range is eastern North America, Canada to south Nova
Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern Manitoba; west to Minnesota,
Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas; south
to Florida and the Gulf coast, in all of which localities, except in the
extreme north, it usually rears two or three broods in a season. In the
Northern States it is only a summer resident, arriving in April and
remaining until the latter part of October and occasionally November.
Excepting during the breeding season, small flocks may often be seen
roving about in search of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire says
this is especially true in the fall of the year. At this time several
families unite, and as many as two dozen may occasionally be flushed in
a field, over which they scatter, roaming about independently of each
other. When one takes wing all the others in the vicinity follow. It
is a shy bird in the East, while in the middle states it is quite the
reverse. Its flight is rather laborious, at least in starting, and is
continued by a series of rapid movements of the wings, alternating with
short distances of sailing, and is rarely protracted. On alighting,
which is accompanied with a twitching of its tail, it usually settles on
some fence rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on a hillock in a meadow
from which it can get a good view of the surroundings, and but rarely
on a limb of a tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows, fallow fields,
pastures, and clearings, but in some sections, as in northern Florida,
for instance, it also frequents the low, open pine woods and nests
there.
The song of the Meadow Lark is not much varied, but its clear, whistling
notes, so frequently heard in the early spring, are melodious and
pleasing to the ear. It is decidedly the farmers' friend, feeding, as
it does, on noxious insects, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, spiders,
worms and the like, and eating but little grain. The lark spends the
greater part of its time on the ground, procuring all its food there.
It is seldom found alone, and it is said remains paired for life.
Nesting begins in the early part of May and lasts through June. Both
sexes assist in building the nest, which is always placed on the ground,
either in a natural depression, or in a little hollow scratched out by
the birds, alongside a bunch of grass or weeds. The nest itself is lined
with dry grass, stubble, and sometimes pine needles. Most nests are
placed in level meadows. The eggs and young are frequently destroyed by
vermin, for the meadow lark has many enemies. The eggs vary from three
to seven, five being the most common, and both sexes assist in the
hatching, which requires about fifteen or sixteen days. The young leave
the nest before they are able to fly--hiding at the slightest sign of
danger. The Meadow Lark does not migrate beyond the United States. It is
a native bird, and is only accidental in England. The eggs are spotted,
blotched, and speckled with shades of brown, purple and lavender. A
curious incident is told of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on the top
mast of a schooner several miles at sea. It was evidently very tired but
would not venture near the deck.
[Illustration: MEADOW LARK.]