234 The Bob-LinJcj or Rice-Bird, 



The migrations and changes of plumage of this little bird are exceedingly 

 curious. During the breeding season, May, June, and July, they seem to 

 spread over all the middle portion of the continent, as far north as the 54th 

 degree of north latitude. In July the male begins gradually to lose his 

 remarkable dress, and to assume that of the female. In August the sexes 

 cannot be distinguished from each other, except by dissection. Males, 

 females, and the young of that season, then all wear the same homely garb. 

 The male has also lost his song. They have but one brood in the season, 

 and during the early portion of the autumn, innumerable families congregate 

 into prodigious swarms and pom- down upon the southern countries. In 

 Canada they are sometimes called during their autumnal flight " little brown 

 blackbirds," and occasionally they commit great depredations upon the fields 

 of oats. Few persons then suspect that they and the Bob-links are the same 

 birds, as their dress and habits are different, and the only note they utter is 

 a short and sharp " klink." The Bob-link of the summer is an inoffensive 

 and highly amusing fellow, delighting all observers with his song, and feeding 

 only upon insects and their larvae ; but he of the autumn is a ruthless and 

 hated depredator, devastating whole fields of grain. Their ravages in the 

 South are of a much more formidable character than they are in the British 

 Provinces. Wilson says " They collect in great multitudes, and pour down 

 upon the oat-fields of New England like a torrent, depriving the proprietors 

 of a good part of their harvest ; but, in return, often supply his table with a 

 very delicious dish. From all parts of the North and Western regions, they 

 direct their course towards the South, and about the middle of August revisit 

 Pennsylvania, on their route to winter quarters. For several days they seem 

 to confine themselves to the fields and uplands ; but as soon as the seeds of 

 the reed are ripe, they resort to the shores of the Delaware and Schuylkill 

 in multitudes ; and these places during the remainder of their stay appear to 

 be their grand rendezvous. The reeds or wild oats, furnish them with such 

 abundance of nutritious food, that in a short time they become extremely 

 fat, and are supposed by some of our epicures to be equal to the famous 

 ortolans of Europe. Their note at this season is a single chink, and is heard 

 overhead with little intermission from morning to night." On theu' first 

 arrival in the Southern States from the North in the autumn they are lean, 

 but in a few days they become so fat that each bird is said to be nothing 

 more than a compact ball of delicious meat. They are at this season called 

 " Reed-birds" or " Rice-birds," from their feeding upon rice, or the seeds of 

 the wild oats or reeds. They are slain in myi-iads, and exposed for sale in 

 all the markets of the Southern cities. In " Lewis' American Sportsman," 

 a book which contains a good deal of Natural History as well as sporting 

 information, the author says " The war of musketry is now heard incessantly 

 from bright morning till dark night, all along the banks of our rivers, and 

 the markets are soon overstocked with the innocent victims of many an old 

 rusty barrel, that is only brought into requisition in Reed-bird season, as it 

 most frequently is at this time of the year. The birds spoil very soon after 

 being killed, and consequently remain but a short time in the hands of the 



