BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 



239 



of flight, I have never felt that there could be any reasonable doubt as 

 to the correctness of my determination, for I was perfectly familiar, ' at the 

 time, with the Fish Crow in life, having studied it only the year before in the 

 neighborhood of Washington, D. C. When my note was published the Fish 

 Crow had never been taken in Massachusetts, but since then a specimen has 

 been shot at Wareham,^ and another at Springfield. ^ 



In the spring of 1905 Mr. J. A. Farley and Mr. E. H. Forbush met with 

 Fish Crows in considerable numbers in the southern part of Massachusetts near 

 the shores of Buzzards Bay. Mr. Farley writes me that the birds were noted 

 there on several occasions between March 27 and May 30.. On May 7 seventeen 

 were seen at one time. No nests were found although Mr. Farley made a long 

 and thorough search for them. 



131. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linn.). 

 Bobolink. Skunk Blackbird. 



Summer resident, formerly abundant and generally distributed, still occurring numerously 

 in a few localities. 



seasonal occurrence. 



May I, 1890, one male heard, Belmont, W. Faxon. 



May 8 — September 10. 

 September 25, 1882, one seen, Cambridge, H. M. Spelman. 



NESTING DATES. 



June I — 8. 



In the days of my youth Bobolinks nested every season in a grassy enclo- 

 sure just behind our house, and their tinkling music might be heard almost eveiy- 

 where in the fields and meadows a little further to the westward, especially in 

 those bordering on Vassall Lane. The birds were still more numerous in the 

 meadows between Belmont and Hill's Crossing and throughout the broad mow- 

 ing lands of the Adams estate in Watertown. We saw them last in our own 

 grounds about 1873, and they had disappeared from the entire region lying to 

 the south and east of Fresh Pond before 1885. During the next decade they 

 abandoned most of their former haunts in the eastern parts of Watertown and 



' W. Brewster, Auk, IV, 1S87, 162. 



2R. O. Morris, Auk, XIV, 1S97, 100. No. 48,279, collection of William Brewster. 



