THE BOBOLINK. 



'•When Nature had made all her birds, 



And had no cares to think on, 



She gave a rippling laugh, 



And out there flew a Bobolinkon." 



,0 American ornithologist 

 omits mention of the Bobo- 

 link, and natnralists gener- 

 ally have described 

 him under one of the 

 many names by which he is known. 

 In some States he is called the Rice 

 Bird, in others Reed Bird, the Rice or 

 Reed Bunting, while his more familiar 

 title, throughout the greater part of 

 America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum. 

 in Jamaica, where he gets very fat 

 during his winter stay, he is called the 

 Butter Bird. His title of Rice 

 Troopial is earned by the depredations 

 which he annually makes upon the 

 rice crops, though his food " is by no 

 means restricted to that seed, but con- 

 sists in a large degree of insects, grubs, 

 and various wild grasses." A migra- 

 tory bird, residing during the winter 

 in the southern parts of America, he 

 returns in vast multitudes northward 

 in the early Spring. According to 

 Wilson, their course of migration is as 

 follows: " In April, or very early in 

 May, the Rice Buntings, male and 

 female, arrive within the southern 

 boundaries of the United States, and 

 are seen around the town of Savan- 

 nah, Georgia, sometimes in separate 

 parties of males and females, but 

 more generally promiscuously. They 

 remain there but a short time, and 

 about the middle of May make their 

 appearance in the lower part of 

 Pennsylvania. While here the males 

 are extremely gay and full of song, 

 frequenting meadows, newly plowed 

 fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and 

 watery places, feeding on May flies 

 and caterpillars, of which they des- 

 troy great quantities. In their passage, 

 however, through Virginia at this sea- 

 son, they do great damage to the early 

 wheat and barley while in their milky 



state. About the 20th of May they 

 disappear on their way to the North. 

 Nearly at the same time they arrive in 

 the State of New York, spread over 

 the whole of the New England 

 States, as far as the river St. Law- 

 rence, and from Lake Ontario to the 

 sea. In all of these places they re- 

 main during the Summer, building 

 their nests and rearing their young." 



The Bobolink's song is a peculiar 

 one, varying greatly with the occa- 

 sion. As he flys southward, his cry is 

 a kind of clinking note ; but the love 

 song addressed to his mate is voluble 

 and fervent. It has been said that if 

 you should strike the keys of a piano- 

 forte haphazard, the higher and the 

 lower singly very quickly, you might 

 have some idea of the Bobolink's 

 notes. In the month of June he 

 gradually changes his pretty, attrac- 

 tive dress and puts on one very like 

 the females, which is of a plain rusty 

 brown, and is not reassumed until the 

 next season of nesting. The two par- 

 ent birds in the plate represent the 

 change from the dark plumage in 

 which the bird is commonly known 

 in the North as the Bobolink, to the 

 dress of yellowish brown by which it 

 is known throughout the South as the 

 Rice or Reed Bird. 



His nest, small and a plain one, too, 

 is built on the ground by his industri- 

 ous little wife. The inside is warmly 

 lined with soft fibers of whatever may 

 be nearest at hand. Five pretty white 

 eggs, spotted all over with brown are 

 laid, and as soon 



" As the little ones chip the shell 

 And five wide mouths are ready for food, 

 ' Robert of Lincoln ' bestirs him well, 

 Gathering seeds for this hungry brood." 



97 



