Hints to Audubon Workers. 



155 



At that moment Ghopal espied a wild 

 bee's hive, and coveted the honey, but as he 

 had experience in robbing wild bees, he 

 contented himself with longing. Presently 

 he exclaimed, " O, wise Byram, dost thou 

 verily assert that the bee's sting is a benefit 

 to man ?" 



"The bee," said Byram, "is most assur- 

 edly a blessing to humanity, and his sting 

 was not given him without a wise purpose." 



"I do not doubt," said Ghopal, "that the 

 sting is very useful to the bees. It helps 



them to defend their honey — but you said 

 but a moment since that everything that 

 Brahma had created is for man's benefit. I 

 will dispute that point with thee and chal- 

 lenge thee to show any benefit which the 

 bee's sting has conferred or is likely to con 

 fer on man." 



"We are at the town now," said Byram, 

 "and the worm has given thee subject for 

 reflection for one day. I will consider the 

 subject of the bee's sting and dispute with 

 thee on the morrow." 



HINTS TO AUDUBON WORKERS.* 



FIFTY COMMON BIRDS AND HOW TO KNOW THEM, 



III. 



BOBOLINK ; REEDBIRD ; RICEBIRD. 



THE bobolink, as he is known in the 

 Northern States, is a black bird with a 

 creamy buff patch on the back of his neck, 

 and white blotches on his shoulders and at 

 the base of his tail. Seeing him for the 

 first time people are struck with the fact 

 that the light colors usually found on the 

 breast are on his back, and say he looks as 

 if his clothes were turned around. In the 

 fall moult the bobolink loses his striking 

 plumage, becoming yellowish-brown, like 

 the female. In this condition he goes to 

 the rice fields, where he is known as the 

 ricebird. 



The bobolink is a meadow bird, living and 

 nesting in the grass. He has the labored 

 flight of the meadowlark, but has not her 

 habit of flying in a direct oblique line 

 from the ground. When he soars he does 

 it in a peculiar way, turning his wings 

 down, so that from a distance he looks like 

 an open umbrella. When he is getting 

 ready to light in the grass, he puts them 

 up sail fashion, and the umbrella seems to 

 be turned inside out. Indeed, from the 

 skillful way in which he uses his wings and 



* Copyright, 1887, by Florence A. Merriam. 



tail to balance and steer himself, one might 

 think he had been trained for an acrobat. 

 The bobolink sings in the grass, and on 

 low trees and bushes, but his most animated 

 song is given on the wing. 



On page 9 of Thoreau's " Summer," and 

 page 102-104 of Burroughs' "Birds and 

 Poets," you will find interesting descriptions 

 of the bobolink's song, which, as Mr. Bur- 

 roughs says, varies somewhat according to 

 locality. 



The most exuberantly happy of all our 

 birds, he seems to contain the essence of 

 all the summer joy and sunshine. '^ Bobo- 

 linkum-linkum-dea-dea-dea" he warbles away, 

 the notes fairly tumbling over each other 

 as they pour out of his throat. Up from 

 the midst of the buttercups and daisies he 

 starts, flies along a little way, and sings this 

 joyous jubilate withsuch light-hearted fervor 

 that he is glad to sink down on the stem of 

 some sturdy young timothy before giving 

 his last burst of song. 



BELTED KINGFISHER. 



If you are in the vicinity of a river or 

 stream at any time, and think you hear an 

 alarm clock going off, you want to look 



