BIRDS OF THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD 41 



THE BOBOLINK. 



There is not a singing-bird in New England that en- 

 joys the notoriety of the Bobolink. He is like a rare 

 wit in our social or political circles. Everybody is talk- 

 ing about him and quoting his remarks, and all are 

 delighted with his company. He is not without great 

 merits as a songster ; but he is well known and admired 

 because lie is showy, noisy, and flippant, arid sings only 

 in the open field, and frequently while poised on the 

 wing, so that any one who hears can see him and 

 know who is the author of the strains that afford so 

 much delight. He sings also at broad noonday, when 

 everybody is out, and is seldom heard before sunrise, 

 while other birds are joining in the universal chorus. 

 He waits till the sun is up, when many of the early per- 

 formers have become silent, as if determined to secure 

 a good audience before his own exhibition. 



In the grand concert of Nature it is the Bobolink who 

 performs the recitative, which he delivers with the ut- 

 most fluency and rapidity, and we must listen carefully 

 not to lose many of his words. He is plainly the merriest 

 of all the feathered creation, almost continually in motion, 

 and singing on the wing apparently in the greatest ecstasy 

 of joy. There is not a plaintive strain in his whole per- 

 formance. Every sound is as merry as the laugh of a 

 young child, and we cannot listen to him without fancy- 

 ing him engaged in some jocose raillery of his compan- 

 ions. If we suppose him to be making love, we cannot 

 look upon him as very deeply enamored, but rather as 

 highly delighted with his spouse and overflowing with 

 rapturous admiration. His mate is a neatly formed bird, 

 with a mild expression of face, of a modest deportment, 

 and arrayed in the plainest apparel. She seems perfectly 

 satisfied with observing the pomp and display of her 



