THE OOLOGrST 



47 



the Bobolink is that in James Russell 

 Lowell's Biglow Papers. 



"June's bird's man, poet o" the year, 

 ■Gladness on wings, the Bobolink Is here: 

 Half hid in tip-top apple-blooms he sings 

 Or climbs against the breeze on quivern' wings 

 Or givin' way to't in a mock despair, 

 JRuns down a brook o' laughter thro' the air." 



And in the same poet's "Under the 

 Willows" i.s the following enthusiasm 

 over "June's Bridsmau:" 



But now, O rapture: sunshine winged and 



voiced. 

 Pipe blown through by the warm wild breath 



of the west 

 Shepherding his soft droves of fleecy cloud; 

 •Gladness of woods, skies, waters, all in one. 

 The Bobolink has come, and like the soul 

 Of the sweet season vocal in a bird. 

 Gurgles in ecstasy we know not what 

 :Save June 1 Dear June 1 Now God be praised 



for June. 



The plain brown yellow female is just 

 as sky, silent and retiring as her little 

 lord is noisy, attractive and conspicu- 

 ous. And so little are they together 

 -that yon might take him for a bachelor 

 bird with no wife or rising family in all 

 the meadow. But it appears his duty 

 to draw all curiosity from his seclusive 

 mate and her well hidden nest unto 

 himself, and if this be truf how admir- 

 ably is he titted to do it. Not a bird is 

 more worthy your observation or will 

 better repay you for a little watching. 

 I now draw on one of mv field note 

 books for June 2i, 1896. Just the other 

 afternoon a male Bobolink flew up out 

 of the grass of a road side meadow a 

 little ahead of me and alighting on a 

 fence rail with his odd buff crest puffed 

 and wings raised began to "bow and 

 scrape" after his funny fa«>hion, .ringing 

 with all bis wanted energy and enthus- 

 iasm. Then he dashed off into the elm 

 and sang, then up into its higher 

 branches and sang, then he dropped 

 down into a bush less than ten feet 

 from me; thus singing and changing his 

 . position as I moved leisurely along the 

 road; singing now in bush or tree now 

 in the air as he flew, he filled every 



pause with song and accompanied me 

 twenty or thirty rods up the road. It 

 certainly looked like a ruse on the part 

 of the little musician escorting me along 

 the borders of his territory! Was he 

 trying to coax me away from the spot 

 where Mrs. Bobolink sat in her nest or 

 tended the birdies or was he only giv- 

 ing an exhibition of his dainty and 

 quaint self, or was all this music the 

 way he had of scolding me out of his 

 neighborhood?— certainly a delightful 

 dose of scolding to take and may no 

 one ever be inflicted with any more bit- 

 ter— which of these conclusions is the 

 answer to his actions I leave for the 

 reader to decide by his observation. 



Dr. J. M. Wheaton gives a happy dis- 

 cription of the Bobolink singing: 



•'While singing he raises and de- 

 presses his feathers, seems to contract 

 and expand his whole body, bows, nods, 

 shrugs, till he resembles a French danc- 

 ing-master in uniform, singing, fiddling 

 dancing and calling off at the same 

 tim« " 



Who would find the Bobolink's nest 

 must have patience and some exper- 

 ience at nest finding. It is usually very 

 well concealed the thickest clump of 

 grass or clover in some deep depres- 

 sion, and the eggs five sometimes six or 

 seven are well marked and colored to 

 harmonize with the ground; and as the 

 female runs off from the nest through 

 the grass before taking wing you need 

 not think the nest is somewhere near 

 the spot whence you saw 'her fly. If 

 you would find the Bobolink's nest go 

 out in the early dawn of a June morn- 

 ing when the whole world is fresh in 

 the jewelry of a heavy dew. When the 

 emerald lights of the eastern sky have 

 scarcely begun to melt into the rose'* of 

 dawn, ere yet the clover has opened its 

 pink lips or unclasped its hands which 

 all night were folded as in prayer. Go 

 then into the meadows when a new day 

 is in the bud, and when Mrs. Bobolink 

 leaves her nest on foot at your ap- 



