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between them in a popular description. Most of them have rather long, 
pointed, tapering bills (Figures 46, 47, 48, 49, p. 26) and some have 
the middle of the culmen running up in a short keel on the forehead. The 
Bobolink and the Cowbird have quite sparrow-like bills, but they are 
shortened Icterine rather than Passerine bills. These species can also 
be easily separated by their marked colour patterns. 
494. Bobolink. SKUNK BLACKBIRD. RICEBIRD. FR.—LE GOGLU. Dolichonyx 
oryzivorus. L.7:25. Plate XXV B. 
Distinctions. The spring male in its striking piebald plumage is unmistakable. The 
female and the autumn birds of either sex show no colour relation to the spring male and 
are easily confused with some of the sparrows (bill, Figure 46, p. 26). The newly 
plumaged autumn birds are yellowish-buff in colour, unstriped below and heavily striped 
above. The spring female, more worn and faded and slightly olivaceous, looks much 
like a female House or English Sparrow, but the decidedly streaked back and crown 
and the buffy line over the eye are distinetive. 
Field Marks. The male in spring needs no special mention of field marks for recog- 
nition; the streaks and yellowness of other plumages and the buffy eye and crown stripes 
are good recognition marks. These with habitat and general actions should prevent 
confusion. 
Nesting. On ground; nest built of grasses. 
Distribution. North America, wintering in South America; in eastern Canada, along 
the southern border breeding wherever found. 
The Bobolink in spring and summer is a bird frequenting the hay and 
clover fields. It can be seen any summer’s day perched on the surrounding 
fences or launching into the air on quivering wings, pouring forth its song 
of ecstasy. Later in the season the rollicking male doffs his parti-coloured 
gayness for the duller ochre and brown stripes of the female. His song is 
replaced by metallic clinks, and with hundreds of others of this species 
joined together in flocks he seeks the marshes until autumn. On leaving 
Canada for his winter home in South America he stops for a time in the rice 
fields of the Carolinas and here he is hailed not as Bobolink, the merry 
songster, beloved for both practical and sentimental reasons, but as the 
plaguy ‘‘Rice Bird” that settles upon the crops in thousands and causes 
decided damage. In the south he is shot and sold for food in great numbers. 
Economic Status. The Bobolink in Canada is an irreproachable bird who 
charms us with his song and whose bad habits have yet to be discovered. 
In May and June, 90 per cent of its food consists of injurious insects, and 
10 per cent of weed seeds with a few useful insects. In July and August 
a very little grain is added. Yet this bird is regarded as a pest in the 
southern States. 
495. Cowbird. COW BLACKBIRD. FR.—L’ETOURNEAU ORDINAIRE. Molothrus ater. 
L, 7:92. Plate XXVI A. 
Distinctions. A small Blackbird with a seal black head and neck. The female is 
ashy-brown, lighter on throat, and can be distinguished from any of the sparrows, which 
she resembles in having a conical bill, by the even, unmarked coloration. 
Field Marks. Small Blackbird with short conical bill, a harsh rattling note, and 
grating squeak. 
Nesting. Eggs laid in the nest of other, usually smaller species, on the ground or in 
low situations. 
Distribution. Over most of North America. In Canada north to the limits of culti- 
vation. Common except in the extreme coastal provinces of the east. 
The Cowbird is our only habitually parasitic bird. It never builds a 
nest or incubates or cares for its young. In the absence of nesting birds it 
takes the opportunity of depositing one of its own eggs in the unguarded 
57172—114 
