114 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



may be said in extenuation of what seems to the 

 bird-lover of the North a heartless killing of one 

 of our most attractive birds, both in song and 

 plumage, that the hunters of the marshes of 

 Maryland and the rice fields of the Carolinas 

 never see Robert Lincoln at his best. To them 

 he is plain of plumage, without song, his only 

 utterance at that time being his metallic ^' chink, ^^ 

 and he is so fat from constant gorging with food 

 that his skin breaks when he falls under the 

 hunter's aim. Notwithstanding this, however, 

 I cannot bring myself to believe that the killing 

 of this splendid bird is in any way justified, and 

 my earnest prayer is for uniform protection of 

 him in all our States. 



The nest is made of coarse grass, lined with 

 fine grass and usually placed on the ground. 

 The five or six eggs are grayish-white, mottled 

 with irregular olive-brown. They nest from 

 northern New Jersey northward to Nova Scotia 

 and west to Utah. They appear in early May. 



Cowbird. There could scarcely be imagined 

 a greater contrast in all those characteristics 

 that make a bird attractive to man, than that 

 which exists between the Bobolink and the 

 Cowbird. As we have seen, the former is at- 

 tractive in song and dress and lovable in every 

 way; the latter is unattractive in coloring, 

 without song, and in its habits a despised and 

 detested bird. Not because of plain colors or 

 lack of musical ability is this estimate put upon 

 him, but because they utterly refuse to assume 

 the cares of rearing a brood, shifting their domes- 

 tic duties upon some little mother perhaps 



