28 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



Family Icteridae 

 Meadowlarks,§ Blackbirds, and Troupials 



DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS (Linnaeus) 



Bobolink 



Plates 1, 2, and 3 

 HABITS 



Our familiar bobolink is known by various names in different parts 

 of its seasonal wanderings. We know it in the north by the above 

 common name, which has stood for many years and is evidently an 

 abbreviation of "Robert of Lincoln" in the classic poem of that name 

 by William Cullen Bryant. In New England it is sometimes called 

 by the pretty name, "meadow-wink," and the less complimentary 

 name, "skunk blackbird." owing to its fancied resemblance in color 

 pattern to that unpopular animal. On its fall migration it is recog- 

 nized as "ortolan." "reed bird." and "rice bird" on account of its 

 haunts and habits, and, in Jamaica, where it has grown exceedingly 

 fat. they call it "butter bird." On its spring migration through the 

 southern States, it is often called the "May bird." 



Unfortunately for us New Englanders our beloved bobolink has 

 largely disappeared, or at least has been greatly reduced in numbers 

 in most of its former haunts, during the past 50 years. In my youth- 

 ful days nearly every mowing field of long, waving grass, many of the 

 damper meadows near our streams, and some of the drier portions of 

 the brackish marshes furnished attractive homes for one or more pairs, 

 often many pairs, of bobolinks. In driving through the open country 

 past such places we could always count on seeing some of these showy 

 birds hovering in ecstatic flight just above the tall grasses, the waving 

 white daisies, and the bright yellow buttercups, pouring out a flood 

 of bubbling, erratic song. They were always conspicuous to both 

 eye and ear, forming one of the delights of a springtime ramble. But 

 this is now mainly a happy memory, for there are so few places where 

 they can now be found that it is an event of importance if we see one. 



The partial disappearance of the bobolink from the Northeastern 

 States has been due to several very evident causes. The heavy 

 slaughter of the migrating hordes, both spring and fall, as will be 

 discussed later, has perhaps killed off a large proportion of the birds 

 that formerly nested in New England. Fortunately, due to the 

 reduction in the cultivation of rice in the Southern States, this slaugh- 

 ter has been largely stopped and the birds are more rigidly protected 

 everywhere. Another cause of less importance was the wholesale 



