THE BOBOLINK. 409 



pillars and other injurious insects : great numliers of tlic liairy caterpillars are 

 destroyed ; and sometimes a large nest of the ap[ile-tree caterpillars is de- 

 poj)ulated in a few days. The Orioles are certainly, therefore, worthy tiie 

 highest consideration and prutection from tiie farmer. 



Of the Starlings tliere are over thirty species : they are scattered over 

 Xorth and Soutii America, and many of the species are migratory. Thev 

 frequent more open and marshy countries than thdse inhahited generally hy 

 the American Orioles, and subsist u[)on seeds, berries, and insects. After the 

 young birds have left the nest, they unite with the old birds, and they,witii the 

 birds of other fiimilies of generally the same species, congregate in immense 

 flocks, wiiicii, descending upon tiie grain fields, make, in manv pkiccs, great 

 havoc. Of these birds, the liice Bird or Bobolink is a familiar example. 



This well-known merry songster of the Xorth, Iiccd Bird or Ortolan of 

 the Middle States, and IJice Bird of the South, is abundantly distributed 

 througliout most sections of the eastern half of tlie continent, ranging from 

 the latitude of Quebec, in Lower Canada (which is its most northern breed- 

 ing point ) , through Xew England and its latitude in summer, to ^lexico, 

 Central .Vmcrica, A\'est Indies, and the northern portions of the Southern 

 Continent, where it passes the winter. 



Early in spring it makes its appearance in the Southern United States, 

 usually ill small, detached parties of from eight to a dozen indi\iduals, and 

 proceeds leisurely to its summer home in the Xorth, generally at about the 

 following dates : being abundant in Georgia about April 20 ; in District of 

 Columbia, "distributed about orchards and meadows in flocks, from ]\Iay 1st 

 to 15th ; " arrives on Long Island, N. Y., " about the 2Utli of ^lay," and is 

 abundant in the latitude of Xew England by the latter part of that month. 



During tiie northern passage of these birds, they depend for a subsistence 

 very greatly upon the newly-sown fields of grain, or those which \verc earlier 

 sown, and have advanced to the milky stage ; and the damage they inflict is 

 something quite considerable. They also frequent newly-ploughed fields, 

 and swanqis, and meadows, and destroy numbers of larv;e and worms. 



The males usually arrive in the X^orth several days before the females, 

 during which interim they frequent meadows and fields in cultivated districts, 

 preferring them to thiuly-settled localities, and soon become very tame and 

 familiar, considering the severity with which they were pursued hy the inhab- 

 itants of all the countries they traversed in their migration, liy whom they 

 are regarded only as a pest and a nuisance. The Bob(jlink knows when 

 he has arrived among his friends; and the same bird which would lia\e risen 

 beyond gunshot from you in the South, will perch on your garden fence in 

 X"ew England as familiarly as if he were "to the manor born," and regale 

 you with a flood of his choicest melodies. 

 NO. XI. 52 



