DESCRIPTIVE LIST 217 



5. Tail about as long as wing, the feathers not pointed. No black crescent on breast. Icterus. 



6. Tail much shorter than wing, nearly even. Bill slender, shorter than head. Euphagus. 



6. Tail about as long as or longer than wing, graduated, the middle tail-feathers much the longest. 



Bill stout, as long as head. See 7. 



7. Wing less than 6.50 in male, less than 5.25 in female. Quiscalus. 



7. Wing more than 6.50 in male, not less than 5.25 in female. Megaquiscalus. 



Genus Dolichonyx (Swains.) 



202. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linn.}. BOBOLINK; "RICEBIRD." 



Description: Ad. cf, breeding plumage.- Top and sides of the head and underparts black, 

 the feathers more or less tipped with a narrow whitish or cream-buff fringe, which wears off as 

 the season advances; back of the neck with a large yellowish cream-buff patch; middle of back 

 generally streaked with cream- buff; scapulars, lower back, and upper tail-coverts soiled grayish 

 white; wings and tail black; tail-feathers with pointed tips; bill blue-black. Ad. 9 . Upperparts 

 olive-buff, streaked with black; crown blackish, with a central stripe of olive-buff; nape finely 

 spotted and back broadly streaked with black; wings and tail brownish fuscous; tail-feathers with 

 pointed tips; underparts yellowish or buffy white. Ads. in fall and Im. Similar to female, but 

 burner and more olivaceous throughout. L., 7.25; W., 3.76; T., 2.73; B., .55. 



Remarks. The young and adults in fall plumage are known as Reed-birds. Adults acquire 

 this plumage by a complete molt after the breeding season. The breeding plumage is regained 

 by a complete molt in the spring, and not, as has been supposed, by a change in the color of the 

 feathers without molting. Freshly plumaged males have the black veiled by yellow tips to the 

 feathers; these gradually wear off, and by June have almost entirely disappeared (cf. Chapman, 

 Auk, X, 1893, 309). (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. -Eastern United States in summer, breeding in the more northern States, wintering in 

 South America. 



Range in North Carolina. Whole State, in the migrations only; most abundant in the fall in 

 the coastal region. 



The Bobolink, better known in the South as the "Ricebird," reaches this State 

 from its winter home in South America about the close of the third week in April, 

 and often congregates in the fields of crimson clover to feed on the unripened seeds. 

 By the end of May all have passed on to their breeding grounds farther north. 

 In fall they occur from about August 15 to October 15, being then seen chiefly in 

 the coast region. It is at this season that their depredations in the rice fields have 

 earned for them the appropriate name of Ricebird, and with regard to this we can- 

 not do better than quote from the annual report of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, chief of 

 the U. S. Biological Survey for 1886: "One of the most important industries of the 

 Southern States, the cultivation of rice, is crippled and made precarious by the 

 semi-annual attacks of birds. Many kinds of birds feed upon rice, but the bird that 

 does more injury than all the rest combined is the Bobolink of the North, called 

 Reed-bird along the Chesapeake, and Ricebird in the South." Captain Bendire in 

 Life Histories of North American Birds, 1895, page 431, quotes Captain Hazard of 

 Annandale, S. C., in part as follows: "During the nights of August 21, 22, 23, 

 and 24, millions of these birds make their appearance and settle in the rice fields. 

 From the 21st of August to the 25th of September our every effort is to save the 

 crop. Men, boys, and women, with guns and ammunition, are posted on every 

 four or five acres and shoot daily an average of about one quart of powder to the 

 gun. This firing commences at first dawn of day and is kept up till sunset. After 

 all this expense and trouble our loss of rice per acre seldom falls under five bushels, 

 and if from any cause there is a check to the crop during its growth which pre- 



