CATALOGUE OF VERTEBRATES. 531 

 Family ICT£RID^. 



Orioles. 



DOLICHONYX, Swains. 



D, oryzivorus, L. Reedbird. Ricebird. Bobolink. 



Male in spring black ; neck buify ; shoulders and rump ashy 

 white ; back streaky ; in autumn yellowish brown, streaked 

 above. Female like fall male, dull yellow, resembling sparrows, 

 but with acute tail feathers. Length, 7| inches ; tail, 3 inches. 

 In autumn migrate southward to fatten in the rice swamps. 



"Arrives early in May, and soon after nidification commences. 

 But a single brood is reared. In August, after moulting, the 

 males are feathered similarly to the females, and they now 

 become gregarious. In flocks frequently of a thousand indi- 

 viduals, they frequent the reeds, and are then called 'reedbirds,' 

 having been known as ' bobolinks ' during the early summer. 

 In September they are very fat, and are eagerly sought for as 

 a delicate article of food. They remain on the reeds until the 

 appearance of several sharp frosts, when they go south, migrat- 

 ing at night. The male birds during the spring have a varied, 

 beautiful song, but in August it has changed, as has also the 

 female's chatters, to a single note." 



MOLOTHRUS, Swains. 



M. ater, Bodd. {pecons.) Cow Bird. 



Male iridescent black ; head and neck glossy brown ; female 

 smaller; dusky gray brown, with short blackish bill. Length 

 (male), 8 inches ; tail, 3 inches. 



"Arrives early in April, and is found generally in meadows in 

 loose flocks until May, when the females scatter through the 

 country and deposit two or three eggs, one each in a nest of 

 another bird. The warblers and sparrows are the birds gener- 

 ally so favored. Later in the summer, after the young can fly, 

 they become partially gregarious, and usually are found with the 

 ' red-wings.' They are known throughout the State as ' sheep 

 blackbirds.' Feed on insects and are strictly inoffensive." 



