288 THE BOBOLINK. 



the top of a ground juniper, some two feet from the ground. 

 The 4 or 5 eggs, some .TOX-55, are white, specked and 

 spotted, sometimes wreathed with -light brown and lilac. 

 Clear white eggs rarely occur. 



Wintering sparingly in our southern border, but mostly 

 beyond, the Maryland Yellow-throat breeds throughout the 

 Union, abundantly in the' Middle States, and commonly in 

 New England and Nova Scotia. Audubon saw none in 

 Newfoundland nor in Labrador. 



THE BOBOLINK. 



Leaving the swamp and coming out into the broad mead- 

 ows in the vicinity, I am greeted by the newly-arrived 

 Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). It is difficult to speak of 



THE BOBOLINK. 



the Bobolink without going into ecstasies. To say the 

 least, he is the finest bird of our fields and meadows. See 

 .him mount that stake by the road-side! Every feather of 

 his jet-black front is partially raised, the elegant creamy- 

 .white patch on the back of the head and neck is elevated into 

 a crest; his wings and scapulars, so finely marked with white, 



