I 



BIRDS OF KANSAS 



75 



repeated from time to time, usually as often as the flock 

 aliglits. This performance may also be witnessed early 

 in April, in the vicinity of Washington, the Smithsonian 

 grounds being a favorite place of resort. 



" By the time these birds have reached in their spring 

 migrations the fortieth parallel of latitude, they no longer 

 move in large flocks, but have begun to separate into 

 small parties and, finally, into pairs. In Kew England 

 the Bobolink treats us to no such concerts as those de- 

 scribed by Audubon, where many voices join in creating 

 their peculiar, jingling melody. When they first appear, 

 usually after the middle of May, they are in small parties, 

 composed of either sex, absorbed in their courtships and 

 overflowing with song. When two or three male Bobo- 

 links, decked out in their gayest spring apparel, are pay- 

 ing their attentions to the same drab-colored female, con- 

 trasting so strikingly in her sober brown dress, their per- 

 formances are quite entertaining, each male endeavoring 

 to outsing the others. The female appears coy and re- 

 tiring, keeping closely to the ground, but always attended 

 by the several aspirants for her affection. After a contest, 

 often quite exciting, the rivalries are adjusted, the re- 

 jected suitors are driven off' by their more fortunate com- 

 petitor, and the happy pair begin to put in order a new 

 home. It is in these love quarrels that their song appears 

 to the greatest advantage. They pour out incessantly 

 their strains of quaint but charming music, now on tlie 

 ground, now on the wing, now on the top of a fence, a 

 low bush or a swaying stalk of a plant that bends with 

 their weight. The great length of their song, the im- 

 mense number of short, variable notes of which it is com- 



