2.98 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



of Boone, Iowa, September 23, 1894, ^"<^ donated to the museum 

 by Carl Fritz Henning. (Recorded by Nutting, Proc. Iowa Acad. 

 Sci., 1894, p. 44; and by Henning, Iowa Orn., i, 3, 1895, P- 63). 



Family ICTERID^. Blackbirds, Orioles, etc. 



This is a distinctively American family, some species of which 

 are with difficulty distinguished from the FringillidcE . They 

 inhabit plains and marshes as well as woodland, and feed on 

 fruit, seeds and insects. 



Subfamily AGEL^IN^. Marsh Blackbirds. 

 Genus Dolichonyx Swainson. 



212. (494) . Dolichonyx oryzivorus (I^inn . ) . Bobolink . 



The Bobolink is a common migrant in all parts of the state, 

 and while it is found in summer in most favorable localities in the 

 state, does not now appear to breed commonly except in the cen- 

 tral and northern portions. It arrives in the state in the first 

 part of Ma}', the male coming some days in advance of the female. 

 The male is a musical songster in spring and during the period of 

 incubation, restlessly flitting over the meadows, balancing on 

 swinging weed-stalks and fairly bubbling over with the ringing 

 bob-o-link notes. The female is a dull-colored sparrow- like bird 

 and is seldom seen. T. M. Trippe noted the species as breeding 

 abundantly in Decatur county, southern Iowa, but rare in Ma- 

 haska (Proc. Bost. Soc, xv, 1872, p. 238). Prof. C. C. Nutting 

 (Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., 1892, p. 41) reported the species as in- 

 creasing near Iowa City, but it appears to be rare here at the 

 present time. B. H. Wilson gives it as a common summer resi- 

 dent in Scott county; earliest seen April 28, 1887, and set of five 

 fresh eggs taken May 28, 1889. 



In Winnebago and Hancock counties the Bobolink is an abund- 

 ant summer resident, frequenting grassy meadows, where the nest 

 is very carefully concealed in the center of a clump of grass, half- 

 way between the short upland grasses and the long slough grass. 

 The female bird has a habit of running through the grass for 

 some distance before taking flight, making the nest difficult to 

 locate. Eggs are laid about June ist. After the young are 

 hatched, males, females, and young assume the same dull yellowish 

 plumage, and during the latter part of July and August frequent 



