82 



THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



Without any perceptible sense of care, or 

 of any misgiving, whatever, he lieeps up 

 his gay performances of waltzing, flight, 

 and song, with but little intermission, his 

 beautiful tigure adding greatly to the 

 charms of the summer landscape, and his 

 far-reaching melodj' harmonizing grandly 

 with the joyousness of the season, and 

 ever cheering the husbandman in his long 

 hours of toil. 



If the Bay- winged Sparrow is "the poet 

 of the plain, vmadorned pastures," the 

 Bobolink is the poet of the luxuriant 

 blooming meadows, announcing the beauty 

 and the promise of the fruit-blossoms, and 

 hymning the bright hues and the fragrance 

 of the clover. It is the utterance of all 

 the youth and joy of spring — of an un- 

 bounded hilarity. 



In due time the young appear, a thrifty 

 family, all clad in the plain but beautiful 

 habit of the female, having a great deal of 

 yellow, almost of bright yellow, on the 

 under parts. When they leave the nest 

 the parents show the greatest solicitude for 

 them, flitting about in the most excited 

 manner, and chipping loudly when their 

 domain is intruded upon. 



The nest of the Bobolink being so well 

 hid away, and in parts little infested by 

 enemies, it would seem that the species 

 must sustain but a small loss during the 

 breeding season. 



These birds have their casualties, how- 

 ever. Walking once over a meadow along 

 a stream, I saw a young Bobolink flutter- 

 ing over the edge of the water; and going 

 up to it, saw something like a good sized 

 stone just under it, which I imagined had 

 in some way fastened down the bird so 

 that it could not get away. Taking hold 

 of the supposed stone and lifting it out of 

 the water.to free the bird, my friend accom- 

 panying me called out. "a turtle!" Sure 

 enough ! a large turtle had been holding 

 the bird by the foot, but relinquished it 

 on my interference. I do not know which 

 was the quickest, I to let go the turtle, or 

 the bird to fly away to the woods beyond. 



Perhaps the bird, thinking this reptile a 

 stone, had lit on it to drink, and had thus 



been entrapped by the treacherous object. 



About the 20th of August these birds are 

 gathered in flocks preparatory to migration. 

 By this time the old males have laid aside 

 the gay livery of the breeding season, and 

 appear as plain and aparrow-like as the 

 rest of the family. Imagine the chagrin 

 and disappointment of European bird fan- 

 ciers, in the early historj- of our country, 

 who, having captured Bobolink in all the 

 glory of the breeding season, beheld him 

 turn brown and spotted as a Sparrow and 

 become voiceless ere thej^ reached the end 

 of their long voyage homeward ! Nor 

 does this bird ever resume his bright colors 

 while caged. Exceedingly perplexing, too, 

 was this change of plumage to the first 

 students of American ornithology, who 

 saw the males migrate in immense num- 

 bers to the north in spring, but saw none 

 return to the south in autumn. 



As soon as the Bobolinks begin to flock 

 for their verj' leisurely fall migration, their 

 whole manner is entirely changed. Who 

 would imagine those immense flocks of 

 plain birds, flying high, and in the swift, 

 undulating manner of the Goldfinch, over 

 the marshes about Niagara river in August 

 to be the same species which he saw enliv- 

 ening the meadows the spring before. That 

 plain and subdued note which it repeats 

 quite leisurely — quait, quait, quait — could 

 give no clue to the voice of the same bird 

 a few weeks earlier. But fire into the'flock 

 as they alight among the weeds and grasses 

 after the manner of snowbirds in winter, 

 and like them, feed on seeds instead of in- 

 sects, and you will find them to be verita- 

 ble Bobolinks in excellent condition, and 

 not at all of mean appearance, clad in their 

 finely-marked suits of greenish yellow and 

 brown. These autumnal migrations con- 

 tinue through the day and the night, and 

 pretty much throughout the month of 

 August along Niagara river and along the 

 shores of our great lakes in its vicinity. In 

 the day-time even, one often hears the 

 familiar migratory note above given, with- 

 out being able to see the birds. On look- 

 ing carefully, however, one can see them 

 flying very high, seemingly scarcely more 



