236 



Whether or not it is so, it seems that there are two or three males devoting them- 

 selves to every female. The latter, in their sparrow-like dress of yellowish and 

 brown, are comparatively inconspicuous, and this may be the reason they seem so 

 few. The days of courtship are soon over and the Bobolinks settle down to house- 

 keeping. Often there are many pairs nesting close together. They prefer a 

 sociable company. They nest in cloverheld, prairie, meadow or grassy marsh. 

 Nest building is begun within a few days after arriving, usually about the middle 

 of May. The full complement of eggs may usually be found in them by the first 

 week in .June. Some of the earlier laid sets are found far advanced the second 

 week of that month, while between June loth and .July 5th the nests usually 

 contain young. The nest is built of dried grass, Hags or weeds loosely placed 

 together and lined with finer dried grass. It is often, perhaps usually, built in a 

 slight natural depression in the groitnd. Sometimes it is placed upon the level 

 earth. In either case it is arranged so as to be concealed by the dead grass sterna 

 and growing blades. Often the nest is placed in a clump of clover or tuft of grass 

 above the ground and fastened to the stems of the plant. 



The average nest is four inches in outer diameter by two inches in depth ; the 

 inner cup is two and one-half inches in diameter by one and one-fourth inches 

 deep (Bendire, loc. cit. p. 433). The eggs are ovate. The ground color varies 

 from pearl gray or drab to reddish brown or cinnamon. They are irregularly 

 spotted with different shades of brown, heliotrope and lavender. Almost no two 

 eggs are marked alike. The average size is .83 by .62 inch. 



By the middle of July the young are beginning to leave the nest and labor 

 for themselves. The males in a surprisingly short space of time take on the 

 plumage of the females, and the families form groups and many families unite, 

 all attired in plain colors, living a quiet life until they begin their journey toward 

 their winter homes. Many persons are not acquainted with the female, and when 

 the attractive coat of the male changes to plainer hue they conclude the birds 

 have gone. Kence many think the Bobolinks leave from the 20th to 30th of -luly. 

 In some localities they perhaps desert more undesirable places and congregate in 

 favorite spots, in others they remain about their homes. Most of them seem to 

 leave about the middle of August, though it is much more difficult to get satis- 

 factory statistics as to their fall movements in the northern States thau of their 

 spring migrations. That they often remain much later than the date noted, and 

 well into September, is known. In 1890 Mr. H. N. McCoy sent me a Bobolink 

 taken at Marion September 29. In IS91 the last was reported from South Ogden, 

 Mich., September 2. In 1892 from Plymouth, Mich., September 12. In 1894 



