THE IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



35 





"They frequent marshy places, 

 especially meadows throug-h 

 which a little stream is running-". 

 (Paul Bartsch. ) "During- the 

 nesting- season they frequent 

 g-rassy meadows, nesting- in those 

 places which are covered with 

 g-rass, half-way between the short 

 upland and the long- sloug-h 

 g-fass."(Jno. V. Crone.) "It is a 

 very g-ood sing-er, invariably 

 pouring- forth its song- as it rises 

 on wing" upon being- flushed by 

 the passer-by. During- the breed- 

 ing- season the male can be seen 

 perched upon some reed or fence- 

 stake and from this elevated posi- 

 tion he pours "^orth his song-. 

 The female is shy hence not often 

 captured. I have seen these birds 

 g-ather by thousands on the prai- 

 ries of Illinois, opposite Burling-- 

 ton. Iowa, in the autumn, "(Paul 

 Bartsch. ( Mr. R, M. Anderson 

 says that the male bird is a fine 

 sing-er in the spring--time, as per- 

 ched upon a bending- weedstalk 

 he whistles "bob-o-link-link- 

 link." After the youn^ are 

 hatched, males, females, and 

 young- assume the same dull 3^el- 



lowish brown plumag-e, and dur- 

 ing- the latter part of July, and 

 Aug-ust, they frequent rushes, 

 reeds and wild rice along- the 

 creeks, departing- in September. 

 The nests are very difficult to find. 

 On July 2nd 1894, while coming- 

 across a pasture I flushed a male 

 bobolink from the g-rass; a rod or 

 two farther on the female flew up 

 from near my feet, and looking- 

 down I saw the nest, which con- 

 tained four fresh eg-g-s; the nest 

 was placed on the ground in the 

 center of a clump of grass, and 

 was composed entirely of grass; 

 this was the first nest I ever found, 

 however, I had the good luck to 

 find two more during 1894. "The 

 nest is placed in a slight depres- 

 sion in the ground, and is poorly 

 constructed of a few blades of 

 grass, with water often standing 

 in the bottom. The eggs are 

 four or five in number, and near- 

 ly the color of the surrounding 

 'grass. "(Paul C. Woods.) "The 

 nests are carefully concealed, and 

 the female's habit of running 

 through the grass untill some dis- 

 tance from the nest before-rising. 



