158 



THE OOLOGIST 



.The Bobolink 



The Bobolink is quite a common 

 nester in East Texas. On a hot spring 

 or summer day they can be seen on 

 the top of fence posts or on a small 

 bush in a meadow or oat field, sing- 

 ing at the top of their voices. In my 

 mind these birds are very closely 

 associated with the Dickcissel as they 

 are nearly always seen together and 

 have about the same nesting habits. 



The nest of the Bobolink is always, 

 placed on the ground in a grass or 

 oat field and is made of the same ma- 

 terial. In April or May they lay the 

 four or five eggs which are white with 

 spots and splotches of black and 

 brown. The female incubates the 

 eggs without the help of the male but 

 when the eggs are hatched the young 

 birds are cared for by both the parent 

 birds. 



The nests are very hard to find as 

 the female leaves the nest at the first 

 alarm call which is given by the male 

 bird who is always on guard on some 

 nearby post or bush; however some- 

 times a nest can be found by dragging 

 a rope across the field when the eggs 

 are very badly incubated and the bird 

 is "setting close." 



Often I have followed behind a 

 mower in a wheat or oat field and 

 have picked up as many as a dozen 

 of their large bulky nests. 



The Bobolinks are among the last 

 birds to arrive in the spring and the 

 first to start their southward migra- 

 tion in the fall. 



DeLoach Martin. 



this strange and rare bird, giving his 

 experiences with it on the North- 

 eastern coast of Asia, in June and 

 July, 1913. This paper is illustrated 

 by one map, cwo diagrams and two 

 splendidly executed half tones, and 

 this is, without doubt, the best and 

 most complete record of the subject 

 and the habits and nidification of this 

 species appearing up to this time and 

 the value of it is enhanced by the fact 

 that it is written by "Joe Dixon." 



—Ed. 



The Spoonbill Sandpiper 

 Our friend, Joseph Dixon of Es- 

 condido, Calif., than whom no man in 

 America stands higher as a field 

 oologist, publishes in the October Auk 

 a splendid article on the nesting of 



An Albinistic Meadowlark 



Having read with interest Mr. Louis 

 Kohler's article upon an Albino 

 Meadowlark in the "Oologist," I would 

 not refrain from relating my observ- 

 ances with such a specimen. 



Strangely, the time of my finding 

 this bird coincides to some extend with 

 that of Mr. Kohler's. It was in the 

 fall of 1913. The bird had been found 

 crippled and was brought to me in a 

 dangerously bruised state. Because 

 its lower mandible was hanging limp 

 it could not eat, so it eventually died. 



The bird was surely an oddity, and 

 was in every respect, some different 

 from an ordinary meadowlark. It 

 was fully an inch shorter than an or- 

 dinary specimen. Its bill and feet 

 were startlingly white and more 

 peculiar than chis was the fact that 

 wherever brown occurs in the ordin- 

 ary specimen, brilliant reddish tan or 

 orange, paler of course in many 

 places occurred in this specimen. The 

 entire plumage seemed to have been 

 tinged in some degree with this 

 strange color. A tinge of sulphur yel- 

 low showed in the breast and the well 

 known cravat was much bedraggled 

 instead of clear black. 



Though I am not sure, I believe I 

 saw this bird some days before in 

 company with others of its kind. 



George M. Sutton. 



