1 64 Sporting Sketches 



least exacting and when overtaxed toilers of the 

 cities are best out of doors. There is no strenuous 

 labor attached to it, so that too well-fed mortals, who 

 have lost something of the energy and enthusiasm 

 of youth, may participate without fear of conse- 

 quences; and it is sufficiently reliable to insure its 

 followers at least a fair measure of success. These 

 are important features, which unfortunately cannot 

 always be depended upon when one seeks other 

 game. 



The rail and the reed bird, though occupying the 

 same haunts during a portion of the year, cannot 

 claim even a remote kinship. The reed bird, Doli- 

 chonyx oryzivorus, is an icteroid singing bird, our 

 well-known bobolink, also known as rice bird, skunk 

 blackbird, and butter bird, in different parts of the 

 country. During the spring the male of this species 

 is a most conspicuous and charming figure in every 

 pastoral landscape. His body-color of velvet black, 

 boldly relieved by rich cream and white, would not 

 fail to attract attention, even if his marvellous throat 

 did not contain a witchery of song-producing power 

 equalled by few American birds and surpassed by 

 none. From the plumage is derived the name 

 "skunk blackbird," the general black-and-white 

 effect suggesting the coat of the handsome but 

 unreliable quadruped. 



The rollicking song of the bobolink is the cheeri- 

 est of bird music. The ripple of a merry maiden's 

 laugh, the foamy mirth of a woodland cascade, 

 blended with the tinkle of wee golden bells, might 

 imitate it; the pen cannot. When~heard at its best, 

 the bird is drifting on lazy, ebon wings above soft 



