254 CITIZEN BIRD 



" Bob earns his living these days by singing and 

 going to market for the family, but he does both in 

 a tearing hurry ; for his housekeeping, like his honey- 

 moon, is short. He must lead his children out of the 

 grass before the mowers overtake him, or the summer 

 days grow short ; for then he will have to spend some 

 time at his tailor's before he can follow the warm 

 weather down South again. 



" Twice a year Bob has to make the most complete 

 change of plumage that falls to the lot of any bird. 

 His summer toilet is so tiresome and discouraging that 

 he retires into the thickest reeds to make it. Out he 

 comes in August, leaving his lovely voice behind with 

 his cast-off clothes, dressed like his wife, with hardly 

 a word to say for himself, as he joins the flock into 

 which various families have united. He even loses his 

 name, and is called Reedbird, after his hiding-place. 

 He grows reckless and says to his brothers, ' What do 

 we care? If we can't sing any more, we can eat — let 

 us eat and be merry still ! ' So they eat all they can, 

 and wax exceedingly fat ; the gunners know this, and 

 come after them. 



" Meanwhile, in southern lowlands the rice-fields, that 

 have been hoed and flooded witli water all the season 

 to make the grain grow, are covered with tall stalks of 

 rice, whose grains are not quite ripe, but soft and milky 

 like green corn. 



" Some morning there is a great commotion on the 

 plantation. ' The Ricebirds have come ! ' is the cry — 

 this being only another name for the Bobolink. 



"Out fly the field-hands, men, women, and children, 

 waving sticks, blowing horns, and firing off guns, to 



