CHAPTER XII. 



BEED-BIRD, OR RICE BUNTING. EMBERIZA ORYZIVORA. 



THEIR HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 



HIS delicate little bird is well known 

 throughout the whole extent of our 

 country, and is also a winter visitant to 

 the West India Islands. In no quarter 

 of its rambles, however, is its coming 

 hailed with more delight than in the 

 |l neighborhood of Philadelphia. In the 

 ^^^ Eastern and Northern States it is called 

 bobolink, from the peculiar note which it 

 almost incessantly emits, whether it be 

 flying, or perched upon the tops of the bending reeds. In Penn- 

 sylvania they are known only as reed-birds ; in Carolina they are 

 styled rice buntings ; and in Louisiana, meadow-birds. 



"The rice-bunting is seven inches and a half long, and eleven 

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