54 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. iS-No. 4 



County No. 34. W. E. Loucks. 



Transient and summer resident. They 

 pass through this vicinity about the latter 

 part of April or first week in May. Have no 

 record of fall migration, or departure. This 

 bird is a rare summer resident and breeds 

 in clover fields. 



County No. 36. D. Meixsell. 



Summer resident. .Arrives about the first 

 week in May. Majority pass northward, mi- 

 grating at night. Flocks of lo to 20. 



County No. 40. G. C. Pearson. 



Summer resident from May to September. 

 Eggs 5-7. 



County No. 45. Charles Wells. 



Rarely seen. Obser\ed a flock May 3, 

 1892. [Undoubtedly transient. — W. E. L.] 



County No. 54. C. F. Tindall. 



Observed flocks in this county early in 

 the spring. [Undoubtedly transient. — W. 

 E. L.] 



List of birds collected in the neighbor- 

 hood of .St. Louis, Madison County. No. 73. 

 Julius Hurler. 



Transient, May 2d to loth. 



County No. 74. Philo Smith, Jr. 



Seen in migrations sparingly. 



County No. 75. W. L. Jones. 



Transient only. 



Vicinity of St. Louis, County No. 75. O. 

 Widmann. 



Regular transient. Migration extends o\ er 

 three weeks, from ."Xpril 2Sth to May 19th. 

 Experience with fall migration limited to 

 one record, September 14, 1892 ; a large 

 flock of moulting birds in the bottoms. 



County No. 77. C. B. Vandercook. 



Transient. Passes north in small numbers 

 the first and second week in May. Has 

 not observed it in the fall. Known as the 

 Skunk Blackbird, Ricebird, Reedbird, Rice 

 Bunting and Meadow Wink. 



Catalogue of the Birds of Illinois. H. 

 Pratten, 'I'rans. .■\gri. Soc. 1853-54. (Wayne 

 and Edwards Counties, No. 82 and S3.) 

 Mentions the Bobolink in this list. Found 

 as a migrant probably. 



County No. 88. Rev. J. C. Elliot. 



Transient, passing in May. Has not seen 

 them in the fall migration. 



County No. 95. Prof. L. E. Baird. 



Transient. Known as the Army Bird and 

 Skunk Blackbird. 



When one glances over the preceding 

 reports and sums up the distribution of the 

 Bobolink, it is not difficult to see the posi- 

 tion this bird holds in the State. It is not a 

 bird of general distribution, as will be seen 

 by an examination of the reports. 



It is plainly seen to be a common sum- 

 mer resident in the northern extremity of 

 the State. Advancing southward, we find it 

 still a summer resident, although decreasing 

 in numbers as we proceed, as far as counties 

 3I) 33' 36 and 40. Reports from the first 

 three show that it is a rare summer resident, 

 but the report from No. 40 does not desig- 

 nate whether rare or common. Here we 

 can undoubtedly draw the southern limit to 

 the breeding of this bird, as it is not re- 

 ported from any point south of the above 

 numbered counties. 



From counties 73, 74, 75, 77, 88 and 

 95, reports show that the Bobolink is only 

 transient. Pratten, many years ago, men- 

 tions the Bobolink in his list of birds, 

 counties 81 and 82, but says nothing as to 

 whether transient or summer resideni, but 

 undoubtedly it was the former. In counties 

 45 and 54, it is evidently transient, although 

 in No. 36, directly north of No. 45, it is a 

 rare summer resident. From Keokuk, Iowa, 

 and Clark County, Mo., opposite No. 31, 

 we find it reported a migrant, Mr. Fore 

 considering it also a rare summer resident 

 in Clark County, but Mr. Currier, although 

 his latest date is May 24th, regards it as 

 only transient. North of this the reader 

 can trace for himself the occurrence of this 

 bird, and its increasing abundance as he 

 proceeds north. In the counties around 

 and in close jjroximity to Lake Michigan, 

 the Bobolink .seems to reach the height of 

 abundance. 



