284 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



to which they are of service, by catching the insects that mo- 

 lest them. They come with the spring, and leave us in Oc- 

 tober, in company with their cousins, the red-wings, with 

 which they associate very little while here, perhaps because 

 they are remarkable for that philoprogenitiveness in which the 

 cow-birds are so shamefully wanting. 



The RICE BUNTING, Icterus agripennis, which has received 

 its name from the wild-rice on which it feeds, is much better 

 known among us by the name of bob-o-link. a word resem- 

 bling its notes, some of which are wonderfully sweet. It is 

 not among the pioneers of spring, but whenever it arrives from 

 the south, it is warmly welcomed, and gives great animation 

 to the meadows by its parti-colored dress, its busy chatter, and 

 its queer and lively motions. Here, it does very little injury 

 to the grain, though it is said to be troublesome in the southern 

 states. On the contrary, it is incessantly employed in exter- 

 minating crickets, grasshoppers, and ground-spiders, creatures 

 which are especially beholden to those who make war on this 

 beautiful bird. But it is not nearly so much persecuted in 

 New England as in other parts of the country, where it is 

 regarded as delicious food and sent to the markets in great 

 numbers.- How far to the south they go on their return, is not 

 certainly known ; it is thought, that many of them pass the 

 winter in the West India islands. 



The nest of the rice-bird is always among the grass or 

 grain, and composed of coarse grass, lined with that which is 

 finer. The eggs are from four to six, white, tinged with blue, 

 and spotted with a blackish color. As soon as the young are 

 able to fly, they all begin to gather in flocks, the males having 

 put off their summer uniform, and wearing the quaker dress 

 of the females and young. This is the time for their depre- 

 dations, and immense foraging parties lay waste the fields of 

 the middle and southern states. For this purpose they fly by 

 day, whereas in their migration eastward, in the spring, theyi 

 fly only by night. 



