206 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Length of male about 7.25 inches ; extent about 12.25 inches. Female averages a 

 little smaller. 



Habitat. Eastern North America to the great plains ; north to southern Canada ; 

 south in winter to the West Indies and South America. Breeds from the Middle 

 States northward, and winters south of the United States. 



Bobolinks are known by a variety of common names. The terms 

 " Bobolink " and " Meadow Wink " are applied in imitation of its voice ; 

 the appellation " Skunk-blackbird," notes, as Dr. Coues remarks, the 

 resemblance in color to the obnoxious quadruped. When the Bobolink 

 has shed his showy dress of black, white and yellow, he frequents chiefly 

 the reedy marshes of tide-rivers, and is known as " Reed-bird ;" in the 

 Carolinas, Georgia and elsewhere in the south, they congregate in great 

 numbers on the rice-fields, where they are called "Bice-birds." In the 

 West Indies these birds, from their excessive fatness, are known as 

 "Butterbirds." "The name ' Ortolan,' applied by some gunners and 

 restaurateurs to this bird, as well as to the Carolina Bail (Porzana 

 Carolina) is in either case a strange misnomer, the Ortolan being a 

 fringilline bird of Europe, Emberiza hortulana, Linn." Coues. Notwith- 

 standing the fact that the Beed-bird is much larger than the English 

 Sparrow, many game dealers are in the habit of " bunching " the two 

 species and disposing- of them as " Beed-birds." The Beed-bird, how- 

 ever, can easily be recognized by the pointed tail feathers, long legs and 

 claws ; the tail feathers of the sparrow are not pointed, and the legs and 

 claws are short. Even when both birds are picked and their legs and 

 heads cut off, the Beed-bird can mostly be distinguished by its plump, 

 yellow and oily body : the carcass of a fat sparrow is never uniformly 

 yellow, but is dark colored, with narrow streaks of yellow. The Bobo- 

 links arrive in Pennsylvania, in flocks of from eight to twenty -five in- 

 dividuals, from May 5th to 20th. The males generally make their ap- 

 pearance about the fields, meadows and orchards several days in advance 

 of the females; they also appear to proceed much more leisurely on 

 their vernal migrations, than the females. Both sexes migrate chiefly 

 at night when their " mellow metallic chink " may be heard both in 

 spring and fall. The song of the Bobolink is a peculiar, rapid, jingling, 

 indescribable medley of sounds, started first by one bird, quickly fol- 

 lowed by another and another, until the whole flock are engaged, when, 

 suddenly, without any apparent reason, they all, at the same instant, stop 

 their vocal concert. When the male assumes the livery of the female he 

 appears to lose his vocal powers, and is only heard to utter a sharp 

 clinking note like that of the female. These birds, according to my 

 experience, occur in southeastern Pennsylvania mainly as passing visi- 

 tants * during the spring and fall when they are common. The nests 



* Nests of this species, it is said, have on one or two occasions been found in Chester county, and 

 young unable to fly have once been taken in Delaware county, Pa. From numerous reports received it 

 appears that the Bobolink breeds more or less regularly in nearly all parts of the state, but as a summer 

 bird it is far more numerous in counties of the western-and northern parts of the state than elsewhere. 

 The species is common in summer in parts of Erie, Crawford, Warren, Mercer, Bradford and Susque 

 hanna counties. 



