292 ICTERID^ : AMERICAN STARLINGS. 



Family ICTERID^ : American Starlings, 

 bobolink. 



DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS {L.) Sw . 



Chars. Male, in breeding plumage : Black ; nape buff; scapulars, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts, ashy-white ; middle of back streaked 

 with black, buff, and ash ; outer quills edged with yellowish ; bill 

 blackish ; feet brown. Male in fall, female, and young, entirely 

 different : Yellowish-brown above, brownish-yellow below ; upper 

 parts and sides below streaked with black ; crown with median and 

 lateral light stripes : wings and tail dusky, with pale edges of the 

 feathers ; bill brown. The male changing plumage confuses the 

 characters of both sexes. Length of male, 7.00-7.50 ; extent, 

 II. 50-12. 25; wing, 3.50-4.00 ; tail, 2.50-3.00 ; tarsus, about i. 00 ; 

 middle toe and claw, about 1.25. F'emale smaller : Length, 6.50- 

 7.00; extent, 10.50-11.25; wing, 3.25-3.50. 



Early in May the Bobolink's "mad music" begins 

 to be heard in the meadow, and the phantasy goes on 

 unchecked until the revellers are sobered at last by 

 the care which rides so closely after the "fall into 

 generation ; " then the players throw off their black 

 dominos, the medley ceases, and the carnival is over. 

 Whilst the males are in their jaunty attire of black, 

 white, and buff, bubbling over with exhilaration, rival- 

 ling each other in a thousand extravagancies, and so 

 emulous of individual preferment at all hazards, the 

 reticent females, with an eye to more substantial em- 

 pire, are thoughtfully tying knots in the grass to trip 

 up the unwary feet of their future very humble ser- 



