160 HABITS OF THE BOBOLINK. 



martins, each feather being pointed, and very hard 

 at its termination. Although so insignificant in size, 

 these birds are as much sought after by the epicure 

 as their Oriental relations, the rice-birds of China, 

 or their Transatlantic cousins, the ortolans ; and as 

 I have had the fortune to eat specimens of each in 

 their respective homes, and at the season when they 

 are supposed to have attained perfection, I believe 

 myself justified in offering an opinion on their 

 respective table merits. All three, in my judgment, 

 are so much alike, after passing through the cook's 

 hands, that it would be impossible to make any 

 distinction between them. 



In a carefully constructed nest, situated on the 

 ground in a meadow, or among the short herbage on 

 the margin of a stream, they deposit their eggs, 

 generally five in number, and of a bluish shade, 

 irregularly blotched with chocolate colour, and there 

 they rear their progeny. As the season advances, 

 and the lengthening night proclaims the approach of 

 cold and storm, they assemble in coteries, which 

 keep augmenting as they proceed southward, till 

 these flocks assume such gigantic proportions, that 

 a flitting, ever-varying light is reflected from their 

 backs when on the wing ; the effect being so curious, 

 that the observer might imagine he was contemplat- 

 ing some of the phenomena presented in a gigantic 

 kaleidoscope. 



The weather still continued variable, and although 

 our horses were commencing to evince most unmis- 



