THE MIGRATIONS OF OTHER BIRDS 199 



val from the north in the vicinity of Washington. 

 Though a few straggle south into Colorado and 

 Kansas, the majority of the birds from the north- 

 west part of the range travel to the southeast, so 

 that the main flight passes east of the Mississippi 

 River, and concentrates especially along the tidal 

 marshes of the eastern coast. When southward 

 flight begins, it comes with a rush that distributes 

 the flocks far southward, so that on the east coast 

 the birds arrive at suitable points in the region from 

 Maryland south to Georgia and Florida almost 

 simultaneously at some date between the middle of 

 August and the first of September. Bobolinks in 

 flocks now frequent marshes and weed-grown fields 

 in the lowlands, and formerly, when rice was ex- 

 tensively cultivated in the southeast, were very 

 destructive to that crop. Where the grass known 

 as wild rice {Zizania palustris) is abundant, the 

 birds gather in large flocks and, under the name 

 of reed-bird or rice-bird, are pursued by hunters. 

 Outside of marshes they are seldom seen except 

 as their call comes in morning and evening from 

 flocks passing overhead. A part of the migration 

 is regularly performed by day in both spring and 

 autumn, so that the arrival and passage of the 

 species is easily noted. 



From the Gulf coast the bobolink crosses in 

 autumn to Cuba, and from there continues directly 



