LIST. .89 



to say, he does not appear to have seen the young 

 of this species ; neither have I found its nest, nor 

 observed the young birds, as both are so well con- 

 cealed in the long grass, and after the latter is 

 mowed the bobolinks all appear in the yellowish 

 plumage, and the conspicuous male bird is not 

 noticed again until he returns from the south in the 

 spring of the year ; but those confined in cages here 

 retain the same plumage throughout the year. I 

 shot a male and female specimen May 19, 1892, at 

 St. Lambert, and at the time the female was feed- 

 ing on insects on a thorn-bush, an unusual position 

 to find the female bobolink in, as she invariably 

 remains concealed in the grass in the spring of 

 the year ; but after the breeding season is over 

 the males, females and young bobolinks all flock 

 together, and it is not easy to distinguish one from 

 another. The bulk of the bobolinks in this district 

 depart south by the middle of the month of August, 

 after the hay-fields are mowed ; but should the 

 autumn season continue warm, a few still linger on 

 into the month of October and feed on the seeds of 

 the rank herbage along creeks running through 

 meadows. Some years ago I saw some bobolinks 

 along the creek at Laprairie on the 9th of October, 

 and I believe they continued to frequent the creek 

 until driven south by hard frosts. Since writing 

 the above notes on the bobolink, I received a 

 fledgling of this species from Mr. W. A. Oswald, 



