432 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



localities in New England and other Northern States is, in my opinion, far more 

 attributable to wholesale destruction than to change of breeding range. 



Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny, of New Iberia, Louisiana, tells me that it is a well- 

 known fact among- the rice planters of his State that the Bobolink, when feeding on 

 the rice while still in the milky state, requires to wash its bill frequently to free 

 it from the gummy matter accumulating on it from the rice milk. Knowing this, 

 many planters, instead of keeping the rice fields flooded, as formerly, now draw 

 off all the water about this time, making it necessary for the birds to go some 

 distance to procure it, thereby lessening the destruction to some extent, while this 

 treatment does not appear to injure the crop in the least. 



After the Bobolink returns to his chosen summer home he is safe enough, at 

 least from his most merciless enemy, man, as there no one looks on him as a 

 nuisance. The males usually precede the females a few days, and generally 

 return to the same localities from year to year. In its handsome spring dress 

 of black and white the male forms one of the conspicuous features of a rural 

 landscape, while its bubbling, metallic song, almost constantly uttered during the 

 mating season, either while fluttering or hovering above the female in the air, or 

 when perched on a fence, a shade tree by the roadside, or a weed stalk in a meadow 

 or clover field, is certain to attract attention to the happy and joyous performer. 

 No other bird seems to be in such exuberant, rollicking spirits at this time of 

 the year as our male Bobolink. The females, however, are much less in evi- 

 dence at all times, and are rarely seen unless especially looked for, keeping in 

 the meadows, where the young grass hides them quite effectually from view. I 

 have several times attempted to imitate their notes on paper, but have failed 

 During the first few Aveeks after its arrival the male is full of song ; one of its 

 call notes sounds like "track, track," another like "tchae-tchae," and another 

 like "killink, killink." By the middle of July they are almost silent again, and 

 in some sections seem to disappear altogether. The Bobolink is still fairly 

 common in all the dairy regions of central New York, and while at Holland 

 Patent, in June and July, 1893, I saw but few of these birds after July 15, 

 although quite a number of pairs breed there regularly ; they had all apparently 

 disappeared. 



Their food consists mainly of seeds and grains of different kinds, and 

 during the summer months also of Insects, including grasshoppers, small cater- 

 pillars, etc., and on their breeding grounds they certainly do little or no damage. 



In the more southern portions of its breeding range nidification begins 

 usually about the last week in May or the first week in June, and the young 

 have mostly left the nest by the time haying begins. In late seasons undoubt- 

 edly many nests are uncovered and destroyed by mowing machines, which are 

 the principal factors of destruction of these birds in the north. 



The nest is usually placed in a meadow or clover field, and sometimes sev- 

 eral pairs nest close together. It is a gregarious and social bird, even during the 

 season of reproduction, and loves company at all times. It is equally at home 

 on the uplands as in the lower river bottoms, as long as these are sown to grass. 

 As a rule the nest is hard to find; the female will rarely fly directly from it, but 



