FAMILY Icteridce 



tory, leaving the United States entirely in the 

 winter and retiring almost in a body to South 

 America, centering there in southeastern 

 Brazil. In the spring it swarms north 

 through the eastern states in untold thou- 

 sands, nesting all the way from Florida to 

 British Columbia. 



It builds its nest in hay or grain fields or in 

 grassy meadows, well hidden in thick grass, 

 in fact its nest is one of the most difiicult to 

 find. The parents will resort to every artifice 

 known to them to draw one away from the 

 vicinity of the nest. 



The male bobolink undergoes a complete 

 change of plumage twice a year and during 

 migration south in the fall the males, females 

 and young have much the same appearance. 

 In different parts of the country the bobolink 

 goes under the different common names of 

 meadow-wink, skunk blackbird, reed-bird 

 and rice-bird. The song of the bobolink is a 

 very pleasing one, of a bubbling, tinkling 

 quality hard to describe. 



Yellow-headed blackbird, Xantho- 

 Cephalus xa?ithocephalus. 9.30 



Distribution : More open districts of west- 

 ern and central North America generally, 

 from British Columbia east to Manitoba, 

 102 



