46 



BOA TS WAIN— BOB-LINCOLN 



so far as they are known, confirm the inference derived from its 

 structure. The wonderful " Shoe-bird " or Whale-headed Stork 





BOAT-BILL. 



{Balmniceps) is regarded by some authorities as allied to Cancroma ; 

 but the present writer cannot recognize in it any close affinity to 

 the Ardddse. 



BOATSWAIN, in seamen's ornithology, is a name applied to 

 several kinds of birds, and was perhaps first given to some of the 

 genus Stercorarms (Skua), though, nowadays most commonly used 

 for the species of Phaethon (Tropic-BIRd), the projecting middle 

 feathers of the tail in each being generallj'- likened to the marline- 

 spike that is identified with the business of that functionary, but 

 probably the authoritative chai-acter assumed by both Skua and 

 officer originally suggested the appellation. 



BOAT-TAIL, a common name applied to certain North-Ameri- 

 can birds of the genus Quiscalus, belonging to the Family Ideridas 

 (see Grackle and Icterus), from the power they have of holding 

 the tail in the shape of a boat with the concavity uppermost. 



BOB-LINCOLN, BOBLINK, and BOBOLINK, names given by 

 the English in North America to what is commonly called in books 

 the Rice-Bunting, Doliclionyx orijziiwa, one of the best-known birds 

 of that continent — valued for its song and still more for its sapidity, 

 in which last respect it equals if it does not surpass the famed 



