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 Cowbird is reared at the 

 expense of the lives 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 spring and early summer, mainly black; nape creamy buff; 



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



in 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 



^rr^ T 



11 to be crowding upon the 



Pig. 144. - Bobolink, male, and army heels of every One uttered. 



worm, one-haif 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. 



