430 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



II. Not streaked below. L, LL. 



L. Mainly black or slate color all over, and without anj^ white 

 in wings. M, MM, MMM. 

 M. Large, length 11 to 14 inches, tail much graduated. 



Bronzed Grackle. No. 205. 

 MM. Medium, length 8 to 10 inches, tail nearly squai-e, bill 



slender. Rusty Blackbird. No. 204. 

 MMM. Small, length 6 to 8 inches, tail square, bill short and 

 thick. Cowbird, male and female. No. 196. 

 LL. Not all black or slate color, some white on wings. N, NN, 

 NNN. 

 N. Under parts clear black, upper parts largely white. Bob- 

 olink, adult male. No. 195. 

 NN. Under parts mainly rich chestnut, only throat and chest 

 clear black. Orchard Oriole, adult male. No. 202. 

 NNN. Under parts plain greenish yellow, upper parts plain 

 olive, two whitish wing-1)ars. Orchard Oriole, 

 female. No. 202. 



195. Bobolink. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linn.). (494) 



Synonyms: Skunk-head l^ilackhird, White-winged Bhickbird, Meadowwink, Towhee 

 (mistake), and, at the soutli, Kiee-bird and May-bird. — Fringilla oryzivora, Linnaeus, 

 1758. — Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Swains., 1827. — Emberiza oryzivora, Wilson. 



Plate XLIII. 



]\Iale in spring entirely l)lack l^elow, mixed black, white and cream above; 

 female everywhere pale buff, the upper parts and the sides streaked with 

 black. In both sexes and at all ages and seasons the tail-feathers are very 

 sharp pointed. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, w^est to Montana, etc. ; north to 

 Ontario and the southern parts of Manitoba, Assiniboia, and Alberta; 

 south in winter to the West Indies and South America. Breeds from the 

 middle states northward, and winters south of the United States. 



In Michigan the Bobolink is a summer resident over by far the larger 

 part of the state. Wherever there are open meadows and grain fields 

 the bird is found at least occasionally, but it must be considered an in- 

 frequent resident of the entire Upper Peninsula, and even in the Lower 

 Peninsula it is far more abundant south of the parallel of 44^ than north 

 of it. In a general way the Saginaw-Grand Valley may be said to be the 

 northern limit of its abundance, but we have records of its occurrence, 

 sometimes in considerable numbers, in almost every county in the Lower 

 Peninsula, and it occurs regularly, although in comparatively small numbers, 

 in parts of Mackinac, Chippewa, Delta and Marquette counties in the 

 Upper Peninsula, and will doubtless be found at various other points. It 

 is a liird of such striking appearance and beautiful song that it is not likely 

 to be overlooked at any point where it occurs in numbers. 



This is one of our finest songsters and also one of the birds which is 

 believed to be most beneficial to the farmer as a consumer of insects in- 

 jurious to mowing lands, meadows and gi-ain fields. It arrives from the 

 south the last of April or the first of ]May, the dates ranging at Petei'sburg, 



