I30 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



the Bobolink is of decided economic value in the 

 north. 



*' During August and September," he continued, 

 ''the birds fly south in two great routes, one to 

 Florida and the other down the Mississippi Val- 

 ley to Louisiana. The Mississippi Valley birds fly 

 across to Colombia and follow the coast of Central 

 America down to South America. 



"Our Bobolinks, from the eastern states, take 

 the Florida route and go on to Jamaica. They 

 reach there in October and are so fat that they 

 are called Butter-birds. But Jamaica is an 

 English colony and the birds are protected there, 

 though, of course, a good many negroes who own 

 guns break the law and shoot the fat little birds 

 whenever they can. It's nigh as hard to teach a 

 negro with a gun not to shoot, as it is to teach a 

 cat with claws not to scratch. 



"After the Bobolinks leave Jamaica, they are 

 safe. They cross the savannahs of Venezuela and 

 Colombia, fly over the great tropical forests that 

 fill the basin of the Amazon, rise to the plateaus of 

 upper Brazil and settle in dense flocks on the 

 marshy uplands of the Paraguay River. The ter- 

 ritory they have chosen for their winter home oc- 

 cupies comparatively a small stretch and there 



