THE TRAVELS OF THE BOBOLINK 



farmer to the West. When irrigation turns the 

 desert places into fields of grain and alfalfa, the 

 Bobolink in time appears. In recent years he 

 has crossed the Rockies to Utah and Nevada and 

 British Columbia. But like the children that 

 might have gone from Oregon to New York by 

 way of Dakota and St. Louis, Bob goes to his 

 winter home in Brazil over the route which his 

 ancestors gradually opened. 



Bobolinks are practically unknown in Texas 

 and Mexico. So we know that even the Bobo- 

 links of Nevada and Utah leave the United 

 States by way of Florida. There they probably 

 join others from the eastern states and journey 

 with them to South America. 



THE RETURN IN THE SPRING 



The winter is passed with no household cares. 

 It has sometimes been supposed that birds might 

 rear a family in their winter as well as in their 

 summer home. But this is not so. No bird, 

 so far as I know, nests in two widely separated 

 places. 



97 



