98 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 14 



the pine hills. Occurs as a straggler farther west, but there are no records from 

 the west side of the divide. A regular permanent resident in Custer and Dawson 

 counties (Cameron, 1907, p. 394). This part of the state appears to be the only 

 place where it is common. I have noted the Pinyon Jay in the Long Pine Hills 

 of southeastern Carter County in November and Decembei, 1909. Elsewhere in 

 the state they have been found on the Marias River (Wied, 1841, p. 22), and in 

 Gallatin County, where forty were observed at Bozeman, September 11, 1911 

 (Saunders, 1913a, p. 116), and where they have been seen several times in two 

 different seasons (Lundwall, MS). 



The nest has been found twice in Custer County. One was being built on 

 May 19, and incubation was begun on five eggs on May 28. The young were 

 hatched June 15 and destroyed by some enemy, the last young bird to remain 

 being in the nest and fully fledged on July 2 (Cameron, 1907, p. 394). Other 

 data show that perhaps the ma,iority of birds breed much earlier than this. A 

 colony of nine nests was found about fourteen miles north of Pompey's Pillar, 

 Yellowstone County, on April 27, 1918. Five of the nests were in the same 

 tree. All contained young fully fledged, looking as though all the nine jjests 

 had hatched their young on the same day (Thomas, MS). 



192. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linnaeus) 



Bobolink 



A common summer resident of all except extreme eastern Montana, breeding 

 in the wet meadows and irrigated fields of the prairie region, and in the valleys 

 of the mountain region. This species has not been reported from Custer and 

 Dawson counties by any of the observers who have worked in that region. It 

 has been found, however, east to the Big Horn River and Fort Custer (McChes- 

 ney, 1879, p. 2388), and somewhere on the Yellowstone (Allen, 1874, p. 59). It 

 has also been noted in Harding County, South Dakota, just east of the Montana 

 border (Visher, 1911, p. 13). It may therefore occur locally in this intervening 

 region and have been overlooked. In most parts of the state the Bobolink is 

 increasing with the extension of irrigation. In the mountain valleys of western 

 Montana it is locally very abundant, and has been recorded from practically all 

 localities where ornithological work has been done except in the extreme south- 

 west, where it has not been recorded from Jefferson, Deer Lodge or Silver Bow 

 counties, nor from the Big Hole Basin. It is abundant, however, in parts of the 

 Gallatin Valley, in the region about Three Forks, in the .Missouri Valley in 

 Broadwater County, and on the prairies just east of the mountains in Fergus 

 County (Silloway, 1903a, p. 44), and Teton County (Saunders, 1914a, p. 135). 

 It was first recorded in the Bitterroot Valley in 1860 (Cooper, 18S2a, p. 78), 

 and is now reported as a very common breeder there (Bailey, MS). 



In migration this bird arrives in jMay and leaves in August. Dates of 

 arrival are as follows: Bozeman, May 19, 1909; Choteau, May 25, 1912; Boze- 

 man, May 28, 1913 (Lundwall, 1913b, p. 113) ; Bitterroot Valley, May 24, 1910, 

 May 15, 1911, May 18, 1912, and May 15, 1913 (Bailey, MS) ; Missoula, May 27 

 to August 27 (Kittredge, MS). Fall dates appear to be scarce. I find in my 



