BIEDS OF KANSAS 73 



sters. Mounted upon a fence post, bush or knoll, they 

 repeat at intervals their whistling notes, not varied but 

 pleasing, and expressive of tenderness and joy. Their 

 flights are rather laborious, an alternate changing from a 

 rapid vibration of the wings to sailing; terrestrial birds, 

 that during the breeding season -remain in pairs, but are 

 afterwards usually met. with in small flocks or family 

 groups. 



Their nests are placed on the ground, in a thick tuft of 

 grass, composed of grasses, which are often interwoven 

 so as to form a cover overhead. Eggs four to. six, 

 l.lOx.80; white, finely spotted with lilac and reddish 

 brown; in form, oval. 



XVI. BOBOLINK. 



Dolictionyx oryzivorus (LiNN.). 



Summer resident; very rare; during migration quite 

 common. Arrive the last of April to middle of May ; 

 begin laying the last of May; return in September. 



In the early part of June, 1867, I found a pair in An- 

 derson county, and from actions was positive the birds 

 had a nest near by, but was unable to find it, and I have 

 in " The Goss Ornithological Collection " a male shot 

 May 23d, 1877, near Neosho Falls, out of a small flock. 

 I have often met with them in the State since, but cannot 

 recall seeing them later than the middle of May, and I 

 think their remaining so late, or breeding so far south, 

 rare and exceptional, and that latitude 40 to 41 is their 

 southern breeding limit, and 54 their northern. 



HABITAT. Eastern North America; north into the fur 

 regions ; west to the high plains ; south to South Amer- 

 ica; West Indies. 



