THE MIGRATIONS OF OTHER BIRDS 201 



unquestionably the bobolink will flock to this crop 

 as it did in former years in the southeastern United 

 States when the rice industry was at its height in 

 that section. In 1920 I heard some complaint of 

 it, and if the rice industry increases, the bobolink 

 will come in for destruction. It must be noted too 

 that many of the colonists are from southern Europe 

 particularly from Italy, and that these peoples, as 

 usual, have brought with them to their new homes 

 the custom prevalent in their native land of con- 

 sidering all small birds as game. Hunters in the 

 Chaco now kill all manner of sparrows, blackbirds, 

 and flycatchers for the pot, so that, as the country 

 settles, the bobolink will be subject to toll from this 

 source. What the final result may be time alone 

 can tell, but it is certain that hunting will press 

 severely on the abundance and continuance of the 

 species. 



The bobolink on reaching South America seems 

 to delay its southward flight. Todd has recorded 

 its arrival in the Santa Marta District of Colombia 

 on September 11 — an indication, by the way, of 

 the rapidity with which the species travels south, 

 since that date represents a point of maximum 

 abundance for the species in Maryland and Virginia 

 — and finds that it remains until October 14. Early 

 arrivals come to the Chaco of northern Argentina 

 (at Ocampo, Santa Fe) about the first of November; 



