p~ mm 



76 THR RICE BUNTING. Y 



beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, ground spiders, &c., they 

 frequently feed on the seeds of dandelions and docks, the 

 former of which are oily and sweet. Later in the season, and 

 previous to leaving their native regions, they feed principally 

 on various kinds of grass seeds, paricularly those of millet or 

 other allied species (Panicums). If short of other food, they 

 also attack the ripened fields of barley, wheat, and oats, in 

 which they show their taste for plunder, and flock together 

 like other blackbirds. 



About the middle of August, vast parties of these birds enter 

 the states of New York and Pennsylvania on their way south, 

 where, along the margins of the large rivers, they find an 

 abundant means of subsistence, during their short stay, on the 

 seeds of wild rice (Zizania). As soon as the cool nights of 

 October set in, and the wild rice crops begin to fail, these birds 

 take their departure from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and 

 in their further progress through the Southern States, they 

 congregate in large numbers in the rice fields, upon which 

 they greedily feed, and, before the crop is gathered, they have 

 already made their appearance in Cuba and Jamaica, where 

 they subsist on the seeds of the Guinea grass, (Sorghum,) and 

 become so fat as truly to deserve the name of " butter birds," 

 and are highly esteemed for the table. 



In a state of captivity, the food of this bird, during spring and 

 summer, should resemble as nearly as possible that of nature; 

 but in winter, he may be fed on rice, boiled in milk, millet, 

 Canary seeds, wheaten bread, soaked in water, and minced 

 animal food, containing no seasoning nor salt. 



