BOBOLINK. 27 



themselves with angry words and looks. The next 

 year they, or their children, returned, and each 

 took amicable possession of his old nesting-place, 

 neither deigning to notice his neighbor." 



VII. 



BOBOLINK; REED-BIRD; RICE-BIRD. 



THOUGH the bluebird brings the poet pictures 

 of fields blooming with dandelions and blue vio- 

 lets, and visions of all the freshness and beauty of 

 nature, it tinges his thought with the tremulous 

 sadness and longing of spring ; but Robert o' Lin- 

 coln, the light-hearted laugher of June, brings 

 him the spirit of the long bright days when the 

 sun streams full upon meadows glistening with 

 buttercups and daisies. 



Pray, have you seen the merry minstrel singing 

 over the fields, or sitting atilt of a grass stem? 

 And do you know what an odd dress he masquer- 

 ades in ? If not, let me warn you. One day at 

 college some young observers came to me in great 

 excitement. They had seen a new bird. It was 

 a marvelous, unheard-of creature its back was 

 white and its breast black. What could it be? 

 Later on, when we were out one day, a bobolink 

 flew on to the campus. That was their bird. And 

 to justify their description they exclaimed, " He 

 looks as if his clothes were turned around." And 

 so he does. 



