332 THE FINCHES. 



As soon as the young are able to iiy, the Rice Troopials collect in vast flocks, and 

 settling down upon the reeds and wild oats, feed so largely that they become very fat. and are 

 thought to be equal in flavor to the celebrated ortolan of Europe. Multitudes of these birda 

 are killed for sale, and ai-e exposed in the dealer's shop tied together in long strings. 



Of the family Icteridce there are twenty-two species inhabiting North America, the 

 Bobolink {Dolu-Jtonyx or/zimrvs) being a most fannliar one. 



To the rice ]:)lanters of the Southern States tliis bird is not welcome ; for the immense 

 flocks that visit the rice flelds do incalculable mischief and loss. " They arrive aliout the 

 middle of May in the New England States. Their song in spring is exceedingly interesting, 

 and, emitted with a volubility bordering on the Ijurlesque, is heard from a whole party 

 at the same time ; and it becomes amusing to hear tliirty or forty of them, beginning one 

 after another, as if ordered to follow in quick succession, after the first notes are given by 

 a leader, and preceding such a medley as is impossible to describe. Although it is extremely 

 pleasant to hear, while you are listening, the whole flock simultaneously ceases, which appears 

 equally extraordinary. This curious exhibition takes place every time a flock has alighted on 

 a tree." — Audubon. 



Wilson says of him : "The song of the male, while the female is sitting, is singular and 

 veiy agreeable. Mounting and hovering on wing, at a small height over a field, he chants out 

 such a jingling melody of short, variable notes, uttered with such seeming confusion and 

 rapidity, and continued for a considerable time, that it appears as if a half a dozen birds 

 of different kinds were all singing together. Some idea may be had of this song by striking 

 the high keys of a pianoforte at random, singly and quickly, making as many sudden contrasts 

 of high and low notes as possible. Many of the tones are in themselves charming, but they 

 succeed each other so rapidly that the ear can hardly separate them." 



FINCHES. 



We now arrive at the large and important families of the Finches, in which group is con- 

 tained very many of the more familiar birds, which are popularly known by the title of Finch, 

 together with some distinctive prefix, as well as a large numl;)er of less known but not less 

 interesting natives of foreign lands. In all these birds the bill is conical, short and stout, 

 sharp at the extremity, and without any notch in the upper mandible. 



The first group of the Finches is composed of a number of species, which, although for the 

 most part not conspiciious either for size, beauty of form, or brilliancy of color, are yet among 

 the most remarkable of the feathered tribe. The nests of the Baltimore and orchard oriole are 

 sufiiciently curious examples of bird architecture, but those of the Weaver Birds are even 

 more wonderful. Dissimilar in shape, fonu and material, there is yet a nameless something in 

 the construction of their edifices, which at once points them out as the workmanship of 

 the Weaver Birds. Some of them are hvige, heavy, and massive, clustered together in 

 vast miiltitudes, and bearing down the branches with their weight. Others are light, delicate. 

 and airy, woven so thinly as to permit the breeze to pass through their net-like interior, 

 and dangling daintily from the extremity of some slender twig. Others, again, are so firmly 

 buUt of flattened reeds and grass blades, that they can be detached from their branches 

 and subjected to very rough handling ^Wthout losing their shape, while others are so curiously 

 formed of stiff grass-stalks that their exterior bristles with shari) points like the sldn of a 

 hedgehog. 



The true Weaver Birds all inhabit the hotter portions of the Old World, the greater num- 

 ber of them being found in Africa, and the remainder in various parts of India. 



