BOBOLINK, OR RICE-BIRD. 



47 



The Bobolink, or Rice-bird. (Dolichonyx ortzyvorus.) 

 Fig. 4, Male. Fig. 5, Female. 



This favorite bird, beloved throughout all the Northern States, 

 resembles man in his habits of tidiness. During his courtship, he 

 is as spruce as any dandy; when family cares arrive, his trim suit 

 becomes threadbare, and he drifts quickly into a sort of shabby 

 gentility. His spring coat is glossy black ; hind head, clear cream 

 color ; a patch on the side of the breast ; feathers on the shoulder- 

 blade and rump white ; outer primaries clearly marked and yel- 

 lowish-white ; tip of the tail feathers of a pale brownish-ash. 

 Early in autumn, he gradually fades to the color of the female- 

 yellowish beneath ; upper parts, dark brown, excepting the back 

 of the head and rump ; two stripes on the top of the head ; sides 

 sparsely streaked with dark brown. This bird has a wide-spread 

 geographical distribution, extending from the central portions of 

 South America as far north as the fifty-fourth parallel, and west to 

 the plains of Utah. It is known in the Southern States as the 

 Rice-bird, in the Middle States as the Reed-bird, while through- 

 out the Northern States the name Bobolink is universally given 

 him. It is also known as the May-bird, Meadow-bird, Butter-bird, 

 Skunk-bird, and American Ortolan. Dr. Coues says "the name 

 ' Ortolan,' applied to this bird, is a strange misnomer, the Ortolan 

 being a fringilline bird of Europe." 



From the extreme southern point of their winter habitations, 

 they commence their northern journeys early in April. Audubon 

 tells us that small flocks appear in Louisiana sometimes as early as 

 the middle of March. Wilson notes their appearance in Pennsyl- 

 vania about the 12th of May ; while, anywhere from the 12th to 

 the 20th of May, they may be found in full force in Northern New 

 York. It is claimed that when they first start on their migratory 

 journeys, they form immense flocks. If that be the case, long 

 before they reach their breeding haunts, they become widely dis- 

 persed, as they only appear in companies of a dozen or more, the 

 male usually preceding, by a few days, the coming of his partner. 



By both Wilson and Audubon, it is stated that they do serious 

 damage all through the States of Virginia, Maryland, and Penn- 

 sylvania, by devouring wheat, barle}-, and corn, when in its milky 

 state, and every husbandman exerts himself to the utmost to de- 

 stroy them. Whether this be so or not, they are. the northern 

 farmers' very best friend and ally, and deserve his kindest care 

 and protection. Their food, during the incubating season, consists 

 entirely of grubs, caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, 

 crickets, and seeds of wild grasses and weeds, while recent inves- 

 tigations in the South have disclosed the gratifying fact that they 

 devour, in immense numbers, the larvae of the destructive cotton- 

 worm, which so frequently threatens the entire cotton of the South. 



As beautiful as is their song in the North, they favor the South 

 with still rarer treats in this direction. Audubon gives a descrip- 

 tion of their concerts, which must be enchanting. He writes : 

 " During their sojourn in Louisiana, in spring, their song, which 

 is extremely interesting, and emitted with a volubility bordering on 

 the burlesque, is heard from a whole party at the same time ; when, 

 as each individual is, of course, possessed of the same musical 

 powers as his neighbors, it becomes amusing to listen to thirty or 

 forty of them beginning one after another, as if ordered to follow 

 in quick succession, after the first notes are given by a leader, and 

 producing such a medley as it is impossible to describe, although 

 it is extremely pleasant to hear it. While you are listening the 

 whole flock simultaneously ceases, which appears equally ex- 

 traordinary. This curious exhibition takes place every time that 

 the flock has alighted on a tree, after feeding for a while on the 

 ground, and is renewed at intervals during the day." Dr. Brewer 

 tells us that these concerts may also be witnessed early in April, 

 in the vicinity of Washington, the Smithsonian grounds being a 

 favorite place of resort. 



At the North, unfortunately, they fail to indulge in these gen- 

 eral concerts. Busy with the affairs of courtship, each bird pays 

 individual court to the lady of his choice, and sings for her his 

 most hilarious melody. Sometimes, two or three gay gallants pay 

 the most assiduous court to one demure little Quaker maiden. We 

 know of nothing more delightful than, on some June morning, 

 when all the earth and sky blend in sweetest harmony, when the 

 scent of apple-blossoms have not faded utterly out, to lie ensconced 

 in the dark, luscious grass, and watch the Bobolink in his wooing. 

 He sits upon the highest fence-stake for a moment, and then rises 

 gracefully into the air, and pours from his open throat the most 

 wonderful succession of tinkling, vibrating, ringing, rollicking 

 notes that ever filled the ripples of the summer air, wheeling 

 here and there, shouting " bob-o-link, bob-o-link," and then jin- 

 gling off into a succession of the sweetest, most joyous, ecstatic 

 notes. What pen of man can ever hope to convey the most dis- 

 tant idea of its charming effect? Swaying upon some tall spear 

 of grass, he rests for a moment, and but for a moment, when his 

 indescribable melody again greets you from mid air. Dr. Brewer, 

 who has written charmingly on the songs of our native birds, says 

 of these birds : " They pour out incessantly their strains of quaint 

 but charming music, now on the ground, now on the wing, now on 

 the top of a fence, a low bush, or the swaying stalk of a plant that 

 bends with their weight. The great length of their song, the im- 

 mense number of short and variable notes of which it is composed, 

 the volubility and confused rapidity with which they are poured 

 forth, the eccentric breaks, in the midst of which we detect the 

 word * bob-o-link' so distinctly enunciated, unite to form a gen- 

 eral result to which no parallel is found in any of the musical per- 

 formances of our other song-birds. It is at once a unique and a 

 charming production." 



The nest of the Bobolink is always found upon tne ground. In 

 some meadow, near which running water abounds, they select a 

 rank tussock of grass, and, screened by its green verdure, they 

 make a loose and slightly hollowed nest. This nest is composed 

 of the herbage which conceals it, and in it are laid from five to six 

 eggs of a dull-white ground, sometimes tinged with a light drab or 

 delicate olive, and spotted and blotched all over with a mingling 

 of rufous-brown and lavender. The female is exceedingly shy, 

 and guards the approaches to her nest with the utmost care, always 

 running through the grass quite a distance from it before she takes 

 wing, and using the same precaution on her return, while the male 

 cunningly pretends great anxiety over some different locality, if 

 your footsteps get too near his sitting mate. So cunningly are 

 these nests constructed, and so much care is taken to protect them, 

 that one must needs work long to discover their exact locality. 



When the young are hatched, the father forgets his song in his 

 anxious hunt for coleopterous insects, with which to satiate their 

 gaping mouths. After they leave their nest, they still provide for 

 them for a short time, until they have learned where to find and 

 how to catch their own food, when they are compelled to shift for 

 themselves. This occurs about the 15th of July. Freed from 

 care, careless of his apparel, happy, if slipshod, his rollicking 

 song subdued to a simple chirck, the Bobolink passes away the 

 summer hours, until about the 1st of September, when they move 

 into winter-quarters. As they pass southward, these flocks increase 

 in numbers. They crowd along the river-courses, feeding on the 

 seed of the reeds, becoming very fat, and are shot down in masses. 

 Still farther South, the rice-fields afford them the most delicious 

 eating, upon which they fill themselves to repletion, and become 

 easy prey to the most inexpert sportsman. Both Wilson and Au- 

 dubon tell us that they are then killed by the millions. In the West 

 India Islands, they feed on the seeds of the Guinea-grass, and are 

 known as Butter-birds. We regret our space forbids our introduc- 

 ing Bryant's beautiful poem, in which, under the guise of *' Robert 

 of Lincoln," the charms of this beautiful bird are fittingly sung ; a 

 regret which also extends to Washington Irving's no less exquisite 

 prose panegyric, which may be found in " Wolfert's Roost." 



