140 Bird -Lore 



deed, is the damage done that it more than offsets the good accomplished by 

 the bird during the summer. 



Possibly therefore, on broad, economic principles, the Bobolink should be 

 condemned on the ground that it is more injurious than beneficial to the mate- 

 rial interests of man. The rice-growers of our southern states would no doubt 

 welcome this verdict with enthusiasm, but we imagine that, if sentence should 

 actually l^e passed, Bobolink's friends at the North would gladly raise a suffi- 

 cient sum to purchase the freedom of this minstrel of our June meadows. 



But lovers of the Bobolink should not wait for so great a crisis. If the bird's 

 western range is increasing, its eastern one is as surely decreasing. Thirty years 

 ago it was an abundant summer resident in northern New Jersey and in the 

 region about New York City, where now it is either entirely absent or rare and 

 local. Trapping in the nesting season and shooting in the fall are possibly in 

 part responsible for this decrease. The trapping has been stopped, and certainly 

 we now have reached a stage in our appreciation of birds when we should no 

 longer rank song birds as game. 



Questions for Teachers and Students 



Trace on the map the area in which Bobolinks are found during the summer. Why 

 have they extended their range westward? Where does the Bobolink spend the winter? 

 What routes does it follow in migrating between its winter and summer homes? Why 

 does it leave the United States by way of Florida? Does it migrate chiefly by day or 

 by night? What is its call-note when migrating? Describe the plumages of the male 

 and female Bobolink What plumage does the male wear in the fall and winter? What 

 is the Bobolink called in the fall? When does it migrate in the spring? Where is its 

 nest placed? Describe its eggs? What are the feeding habits of the Bobolink? Is it 

 beneficial or injurious? 



