Bobolink. 27 



a poetical portrait satisfactory to the most critical bird- 

 lover. The vernal revels are ended j the gay dress of the 

 gallant cavalier is replaced by a garb suitable to the 

 "farmer 'mid his crops," resembling the constant dress of 

 the female; and life becomes plebeian and prosaic in the 

 absence of song, color, and social reveling. The bobolinks 

 do not tarry in their summer homes after their broods are 

 reared, but, like the grackles, cowbirds, and others of their 

 family, they form large flocks, and congregate where their 

 food is found in greatest abundance. Early in August 

 they leave this region, simultaneously with the Baltimore 

 oriole, Dickcissel, and other tender species. Their fall 

 migration from Illinois is seldom noticed except as their 

 absence is remarked ; for their appearance is so altered, 

 and their behavior so diiferent, that persons generally do 

 not recognize the birds whose arrival was announced by 

 impassioned music and wanton gayety. Instead of dally- 

 ing along the road, and alighting here and there as fancy 

 leads them, they fly high on their late fall migrations^ 

 with the undulating movements of the grackles and cow- 

 birds. 



In the Eastern States the bobolinks resort to the swamps 

 and marshes after the nesting season, to feed on the 

 seeds of the sedges and grasses. Their manners then are 

 very similar to those of the grackles, which frequent the 

 swamps in dense flocks in the fall. As the voracious bobo- 

 links feed on the seeds of the swamp grasses, they grow 

 plump and fat, and are killed in numbers by market 

 hunters for public and private tables, being then known 

 as "reed birds." Continuing their southward movements, 

 they invade the rice-fields of the Southern States, and are 

 then most destructive to the planters' interests, though 

 they are there game for the gunners, and served on the 

 tables of hotels and restaurants. The change in their food 

 and surroundings seems to give the bobolinks new char- 

 acteristics, and in their Southern environments they re- 

 ceive the popular name of "rice-birds." 



The bobolinks have no recorded fall history in Illinois. 

 They are not in demand to supply the tables of our West- 

 ern gourmands, and therefore they are not especially 

 sought in the fall season. The individuals that have re- 



