322 USEFUL BIRDS. 



of ragweed, barn grass, and panic grass form probably the 

 greatest portion ; but the Cowbird eats more grain than the 

 Red-winged Blackbird. Undoubtedly its food habits are on 

 the whole beneficial ; but, as every Cowlnrd is reared at the 

 expense of the liv^es of at least two other birds, the reputa- 

 tion of the species suffers accordingly, and its social habits 

 are certainly not exemplary, if judged by human standards. 



Bobolink. Skunk Blackbird. Reed Bird. Rice Bird. 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus. 



Length. — About seven and one-fourth inches. 



Adult Male. — In spruig and early summer, mainly black; nape creamy buff; 



streaks on upper back grayish-white ; shoulders and lower back ashy-white ; 



m August and September the plumage resembles that of the female. 

 Adult Female and Young. — Upper parts brown, dark-streaked: lower parts 



yellowish-brown, unstreaked. 

 Nest. — On ground, in grass. 

 Eggs. — Gray, spotted with brown and overlaid with dusky streaks, blotches, 



and scrawls. 

 Season. — May to September. 



The Bobolink is the harlequin of the spring meadows. He 

 is a happy-go-lucky fellow, with his suit on wrong side up, 

 the black below and the white above ; a reckless, rollicking 



sort of a fowl, throwing care 

 to the winds, and always 

 bent on a lark. His spirits 

 are of the effervescent kind, 

 and his music bubbles irre- 

 pressibly forth at such a rate 

 that half a dozen notes seem 

 to be croAvding upon the 



Fig. 144. - Bobolink, male, aud army hccls of eVCry OnC uttercd. 



worm, one-half natural size. Indeed, this is about the Only 



bird that completely baffles the latter-day " interpreters " of 

 bird music. His notes tumble out with such headlong rapid- 

 ity, in an apparent effort to jump over each other, that it is 

 next to impossible for the scribe to set them down in the 

 proper sequence of musical notation. Nevertheless, this 

 harum-scarum expression of irrepressible joy is of the most 

 pleasing character, and ranks among the finest music of the 

 fields. 



