44 ' HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



gables, lacking its greatest charm and most fitting 

 adornment. In the northern States the bobolink fills 

 the place that the skylark does in Europe. Their songs 

 considerably resemble each other; both are ecstatic 

 singers, and both sing poised on the wing. The bobo- 

 link, ho wever,sings also at rest, and never mounts to such 

 heights in the air as the lark does. He sometimes starts 

 the song w^hile in flight, and finishes it from a perch on 

 a bush or tree. Always nervous and active, and never 

 quiet but for a minute at a time, he seems to get equal 

 enjoyment in flight and in song. The bobolinks are 

 pre-eminently birds of the open country, yet one need 

 not necessarily go beyond the city to find them. They 

 appear occasionally in the Park Meadow, where they 

 and the meadow larks might become plentiful if it were 

 not for the early mowing of the grass, which prevents 

 their nesting in the meadow. But any pleasant day 

 from May till August you can hear them singing in the 

 fields just north of Jewett Avenue, where their presence 

 still preserves a pastoral appearance to that delightful 

 suburb. Several pairs nested in the vicinity last sum- 

 mer. My only regret at seeing those pretty houses 

 multiply so rapidly in that inviting section is the 

 thought that each new house will diminish the number 

 of singers in those delightful afternoon concerts which 

 I so frequently attend. 



