430 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



extends from about latitude 40°, and occasionally, though rarely, from a little 

 south of latitude 3 ( J°, northward through the southern portions of the Dominion 

 of Canada, as already defined. From recent information obtained by me, it also 

 breeds, in small numbers at least, on the Gulf coast of Louisiana, and probably 

 also in northern Florida. It inhabits open prairie country, cleared and culti- 

 vated districts, but is never found in forests. 



The Bobolink is a well-known and prime favorite with everyone throughout 

 New England and the other Northern States, and few of our summer visitors 

 are more popular. It usually arrives on its more southern breeding grounds 

 about the middle of May, and correspondingly later northward. It is far more 

 abundant east than west of the Rocky Mountains, but in suitable localities in the 

 Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake valleys it is not uncommon, and Mr. H. W. 

 Henshaw found it rather common in the fields about Provo, Utah, where the 

 parent birds were noticed feeding their young July 25, 1872. 



Mr. Robert Ridgway says: "The Bobolink seems to be spreading over all 

 the districts of the far West wherever the cultivation of cereals has extended. 

 We found it common in August in the wheat fields at the Overland Ranch, in 

 Ruby Valley, Nevada." x 



This last record remained the most western one for a number of years, but 

 recently the United States National Museum collection received a skin taken 

 by Mr. A. C. Brook, July 23, 1890, near Chilliwack, British Columbia, which 

 extends its rang'e across the continent. It is possible, as stated above, that this 

 species is gradually extending its range westward, and the settling up of the 

 country may have something to do with this; but it is equally certain that it is 

 rapidly decreasing in numbers in many localities in our Eastern States where it 

 was an abundant summer resident less than twenty years ago. This may be 

 due to some extent to a gradual change of its range; but the enormous slaugh- 

 ter the Reedbird, or "Ortolan," as it is there called, is subjected to in the late 

 summer, while lingering in the marshes bordering the Chesapeake Bay and 

 similar localities on the Atlantic coast, on their migration to the south, is quite 

 a factor in this matter, as many thousands are shipped at this season of the year 

 to the markets of our larger cities, and Reedbirds or Ortolans on toast may be 

 found on the menu of every first-class restaurant. In the marshes here they feed 

 on the still soft seeds of the Indian rice or water oat (Zisania aquatica), which 

 imparts a delicious flavor to their flesh; they soon become excessively fat, and the 

 demand for Reedbirds is far greater than the supply ; but fortunately the English 

 Sparrow is nowadays extensively substituted for the genuine Ortolan, and will 

 protract its gradual extermination for some time. 



Another cause of its decrease is due to the enormous damage it does in the 

 rice plantations of some of our Southern States, where they are very unwelcome 

 but regular visitors both in the spring and early fall, and where many thousands 

 are killed yearly. 



1 Explorations of the 40th Parallel, Vol. IV, 1877, pp. 500, 501. 



