LAND BIRDS. 433 



Monroe county, from April 26, 1885 to May 6, 1897, while at South Frank- 

 fort, Benzie county, Mich., the earliest date is May 21, 1892, and there is 

 a single record at Sault Ste. Marie on May 28, 1900. As in many other 

 cases the males usually precede the females by a week or more and nesting 

 does not begin until perhaps a fortnight later. 



Nests with fresh eggs are most often found during the first week in June, 

 but in some years they may be built as early as the 20th of May. The 

 nest is invariably placed on the ground, usually sunk flush with the surface, 

 somewhat deeply hollowed, and carefully concealed by the surrounding 

 vegetation. It may be placed in a meadow, a pasture or a grain field, 

 and occasionally in ground so low that it is flooded by heavy rains. So 

 thoroughly is the nest concealed that it is seldom discovered while it 

 contains eggs, except by flushing the female from the nest, but after the 

 young are hatched a little careful watching of the birds usually will indicate 

 the exact location. The eggs vary from four to seven, but are commonly 

 five or six in number. They are dull white, heavily spotted with dark 

 brown or bluish, and often irregularly scratched and pen-marked with 

 black. They average .83 by .61 inches. But one brood is reared in the 

 season. 



From the time of arrival until the young are out of the nest the males 

 sing constantly and the indescribable song is by many considered the 

 most remarkable, if not the most beautiful, of any of our bird songs. As 

 soon as the young are on the wing the male begins to moult his dark suit 

 and usually by the first of August can be distinguished from the female 

 only by his somewhat larger size and rather deeper yellow color. At this 

 time young and old resemble each other quite closely and, many families 

 uniting into one flock, they roam from one meadow or grain field to another, 

 feeding freely upon grass seeds, weed seeds, and sometimes upon grain 

 (most commonly oats) in the milk. The damage done in this way, however, 

 is negligible and is more than offset by the destruction of weed seeds, which 

 must be enormous. Moreover, during the entire nesting season both old 

 and young feed very largely upon insects, thus conferring a vast benefit 

 upon the agriculturist. Among these insects v/eevils, cutworms and 

 grasshoppers are conspicuous, and although numerous other insects are 

 consumed those just named appear to form the bulk of the insect food 

 during June, July and August. 



Although one of our most beautiful and valuable birds, it would be hardly 

 fair to withhold the statement that our Bobolink passes southward about 

 the first of September, and uniting with various species of blackbirds pillages 

 the rice-fields of South Carolina, Georgia and the Gulf Coast where it is 

 commonly known as the "Rice Bird." The damage clone to ripening 

 rice is very great and it not unfrequently causes losses of thousands of 

 dollars to individual planters. Prof. F. E. L. Beal makes the following 

 statement in this connection: "The picturesqueness of the Bobolink 

 and the melody of its song do not offset the financial loss and harrassing 

 care of the southern rice grower. As the case stands at present the harm 

 done by the bird far outweighs its benefits; but it is to be hoped that 

 science may devise some means by which the rice growers may be relieved 

 from some portion, if not all, of the labor and expense now incident to 

 saving their crops from its devastations" (Bull. No. 13, Division of Biolo- 

 gical Survey, U. S. Dep't of Agriculture). 

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