The Bobolink i. 
to meadow lands, the nesting territory of the bobolinks 
was greatly enlarged, and was no doubt a factor in 
increasing their numbers. 
During their spring migration northward from South 
America, the larger portion of them entered the United 
States by the way of Florida; the remainder, especially 
those occupying the western portion of the country, 
came in by the way of the Mississippi valley. In former 
times the Atlantic coast furnished the bobolinks with 
plenty of natural food, such as weed-seeds and wild 
rice. This was the condition in the latter part of the 
seventeenth century, when the bobolink was beloved 
by the people of the North and South alike. Mean- 
while two conditions were slowly being brought about: 
meadow lands were increasing year by year in the North, 
and the growing of rice in the South was fast becoming 
a vast industry. The bobolinks now found beautiful 
nesting fields in the North, and, directly in the line of 
their old migration route, man was furnishing a bounti- 
ful supply of food in the way of the young rice, just 
beginning to appear above the ground. Another factor 
which should not be overlooked is, that, after the 
bobolinks’ long sea journey, they are naturally exhausted 
upon reaching the Southern States, and so stop for a 
little period before they begin the long northern 
journey to their summer homes. This enforced rest 
