130 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



F. — On the fifteenth, I observed several little feathered 

 strangers : the trees and bushes being still leafless, afford faci- 

 lities for discovering birds, which a few weeks later we shall 

 not possess. The first I noticed was that well-known bird, 

 the Ricebunting (Emberiza Oryzivora), familiarly known 

 to everybody here by the name of Bob Lincoln, from his 

 call, uttered as he sits on a rail of the fence, or a branch of 

 a tree, which much resembles the words " Bob Lincoln," but 

 still more " Boh Linkling,'' whistled with a very peculiar 

 intonation, the middle syllable being in a much higher note 

 than the others. Yonder one sits on the fence now : do you 

 note his call ? 



C. — Yes ; he repeats his name very distinctly : as a 

 stranger, he perhaps thinks it a point of politeness to an- 

 nounce himself. He is a pretty but singularly marked bird ; 

 the whole of the under parts being deep black, and the back 

 of his head and neck white, and his back being chiefly of the 

 same colour, make a very curious appearance ; the distribu- 

 tion of the colours being opposite to that of most other 

 birds, which have the darkest tints above, and the lightest 

 beneath. 



F, — This is the male : the female has the back brownish, 

 and the under parts dull yellow ; and in the summer the 

 male throws off his black and white dress, and becomes like 

 his mate. I have never known them to do us any consider- 

 able injury, but in New England, and in the Southern States, 

 they do great damage ; in the foiTner, by devouring the oat 

 crop in summer, and in the latter, by the devastations they 

 commit in the wheat fields in spring, and among the rice in 

 autumn. For these reasons, and because his flesh is highly 

 esteemed, no mercy is shown to him ; but the immense 

 flocks that appear are thinned by the combined guns of all 

 the sportsmen in their vicinity. 



C, — Has he no other notes but the " Bob Linkling ?" 



