244 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



blotched, splashed, or clouded, with a dark, dull brown. The 

 colors are, however, variable, occasionally resembling those of 

 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak's egg. 



(c). The Bobolinks are common summer-residents of New 

 England, but chiefly in the southern parts. From other writers 

 it may be gathered that they pass the winter far to the south- 

 ward (being, according to Gosse, migrants through Jamaica), 

 enter the Gulf States in large flocks during March or April, 

 and thence proceed northward, plundering on their way the 

 farmers, and in Virginia doing "great damage to the early 

 wheat and barley, while in its milky state." They reach Bos- 

 ton (but never in flocks) about the tenth of May, and are soon 

 dispersed over the grassy fields, orchards, and meadows, which 

 are their summer-homes. There they may be seen in pairs, 

 perched on some tree or fence, while the male carols to his 

 mate, or walking on the ground in search of their food, which 

 consists of seeds, of spiders, beetles, and other insects. There 

 they build their ne&ts, which are by no means easily found, 

 being often artificially concealed by the parents, and naturally 

 protected by the uniformity of the long grass everywhere near 

 them. In the latter part of July, or in August, the males 

 gradually lose their summer-dress, and resemble the females, 

 with whom, as well as with their young, they associate, some- 

 times in great numbers. They then frequent the sea-shore, 

 visit the grain-fields, and do mischief by eating oats and corn. 

 They also begin their journey to the South, and may be heard 

 flying overhead even at night, when their note is distinct in the 

 general silence. What instinct or sense enables birds to mi- 

 grate so accurately is yet unexplained, but how they can, as 

 many species do, travel several hundred miles by night, is still 

 further a mystery. 



The Reed-birds "about the middle of August" says Wilson 

 "revisit Pennsylvania on their rout to winter quarters. For 

 several days they seem to confine themselves to the fields and 

 uplands ; but as soon as the seeds of the reed are ripe they 

 resort to the shores of the Delaware and Schuylkill in multi- 

 tudes ; and these places, during the remainder of their stay, 



