ICTERin.E 



241 



BOBOLINK 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus ( Liinucits) 



A. O. r. Number 4Q4 See Color Plate 73 



Other Names. — Skunk Rlackbird : Skunk-head 

 I'.lackl)ir<l : \\'hito-\vint»c(l Blackliird ; Mcadowwink ; 

 Towhcc (mistake); Rice-bird; May-bird; Reed-bird; 

 Butter-bird (Jamaica. B.W.I.); Meadow-bird; .Xmeri- 

 can Ortolan; Boh-lincohi ; Robert. 



General Description. — LciiKtli. 7 inches. Males in 

 the .spring and summer have the upper parts black and 

 white and the lower parts black; males in the fall and 

 winter and females all the year have the upiier parts 

 buffy-olive streaked with black, and the lower parts, 

 pale buffy-olive. Wings, long and pointed ; tail, 

 shorter than wing with stiff, acute feathers; bill, 

 conical and sharp. 



Color. — .'\dui.t M.\le in Spring and Su.mmer: Gen- 

 eral color, black; hindneck buff; slioiddcrs, rump, and 

 upper tail-covcrls, zi'hite tinged with gray, especially 

 the upper rump, which is sometimes uniform gray; 

 shoulders edged with buff, forming streaks, especially 

 along the center line; inner wing quill and innermost 

 greater wing-coverts margined with pale yellowish 

 passing terminally into grayish-brown ; longer primaries 

 narrowly edged with pale yellowish ; inner webs of 

 tail-feathers tipped with grayish; feathers of flanks 

 and under tail-coverts margined with bulTy or whitish ; 

 thighs with feathers on outer side more broadly inar- 

 gined with buff; bill, black; iris, brown. .A.dult 

 Male in F.\ll .\nd \\"ixter: Similar in colora- 

 tion to the adult female, but larger. Adult Fe.\i.\le in 

 Spring and Summer; General color above, light buffy- 

 olive; crown with a broad center stripe of pale buffy- 

 olive, and two broad lateral stripes of black, the latter 

 streaked with light buffy-olive; back broadly streaked 

 with black, the edges of some of the feathers light olive- 

 buff, producing two nearly parallel narrow stripes wnen 

 the plumage is properly arranged ; rump feathers and 

 upper tail-coverts with central wedge-shaped streaks of 

 dusky (usually mostly concealed) ; wings and tail, 

 dusky, with conspicuous edgings of pale yellowish and 

 light grayish-olive; sides of head (including a broad 

 stripe over eye), sides of neck, and under parts, light 

 olive-buffy, more decidedly buffy or yellowish across 

 chest and along sides and flanks, paler and straw- 

 yellow on throat and abdomen ; sides, flanks, and under 

 tail-coverts, broadly streaked with dusky ; a narrow 

 dusky stripe behind eye; iris, brown. .Adult Female 

 in Fall and Winter: Similar to spring plumage, but 

 more richly colored, especially the under parts. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Wonderfully concealed in 

 a depression of ground in meadows; constructed of 

 dried leaves, weed stems, coarse grass, and lined with 

 finer grasses. Eggs : 4 to 7, pale drab, pearl-gray, or 



pale rufous, irregularly splashed and spotted with er- 

 ratic lines and marks of umber, chestnut, lavender, 

 and clcep purple. 



Distribution. — Eastern and central temiierate North 

 .■\merica ; breeding from Pennsylvania, northwestern 

 West Virginia, central Ohio, central Indiana, northern 

 Illinois, southern Iowa, South Dakota, and Utah, nortli- 

 ward to provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, 

 .•\ssiniboia, and British Cohunbia (both sides of Cascade 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



BOBOLINK ( ! nat. size) 

 The bird with a song like a hysterical music-box 



range), to about 40° on the .\tlantic coast and 

 52° in the interior ; west to Utah, northeastern Nevada. 

 Idaho, and southeastern British Columbia; during 

 migration southward through the West Indies, and 

 the Atlantic coast of Central .America to South 

 America; also to the Galapagos Archipelago and the 

 Bermudas. 



Once upon a time somebody called the Bobo- 

 link the "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the 

 bird-world." The Jekyll comparison doubtless 

 originated with the Southern planters, who hated 

 the bird for the damage it did in their rice-fields. 



Fortunately it has come to have les.; and "less 

 force as rice-growing has diminished in the 

 South, though Robert's reptitation in those parts 

 was still bad enough to cause his name to be 

 omitted from the list of birds to whom Uncle 



