Stumella magna
Order Passeriformes
Family Icteridae
Subfamily Stumellinae
Adult.— Upper parts brown, streaked with black; line through crown buffy; line from eye to bill yellow; throat and belly bright yellow; black crescent on breast; tail-feathers short and narrow, outer ones white.
Adult in winter.— Upper parts a redder brown; black and yellow of under parts veiled with buff and reddish-brown.
Immature.— Yellow of breast much paler; black crescent replaced by a few dark streaks.
Nest, on ground, of dry grass, sometimes arched over.
Eggs, white, speckled with reddish-brown.
In southern New England and in the lower Hudson Valley, wherever the ground is fairly free from snow, particularly on salt marshes, the Meadowlark spends the winter in small flocks. The clear whistled notes of the bird may there be heard in every month of the year.
But in the interior the Meadowlark is only a summer resident, and in northern New England it is rare or absent. It frequents wide stretches of grass-land, associating either with Bobolinks in rich meadows or with Grasshopper Sparrows in dry fields; at all seasons it is common on salt marshes.
Its ordinary song is a clear, rather plaintive whistle, uttered from the top of a tree, or a fence, and often in the air; it has besides a harsh guttural chatter, and a nasal peent. In the breeding season the Meadowlark indulges occasionally in a flight-song, more prolonged, but less clear than its usual whistle. The yellow breast and the black crescent do not often show; the bird commonly keeps his back to observers. The legs are long and stout, and the bird spends much time on the ground, where it walks.
Though about the size of the Flicker, it can readily be distinguished by its flight; after a few strokes it sails a short distance, then repeats the few strokes, then sets its wings and sails again. When it flies up from the ground, the white outer tail-feathers are a conspicuous mark; as the bird walks on the ground, its short tail is often nervously opened, so that the white feathers show.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)