222 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



nestlings of our smaller birds. An account of the food of blackbirds 

 and Grackles, determined by examination of stomach contents, by Prof. 

 F. E. L. Beal, is found in Bulletin 13, Biological Survey, United States 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linnaeus) 

 Bobolink 



Plate 73 



Fringilla oryzivora Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. 1758. Ed. 10. 1:179 

 Dolichonyx oryzivorus DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 144, fig. 48 



A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 231. No. 494 

 dolichonyx, Gr., :oX'./o^, long, and ^v^Jc, nail; oryzivorus, hat., or yza, rice, and vorare, 

 to devour 



Description. Male: Mostly black; the scapulars, rump, and upper 

 tail coverts dull ivliite; the back of the neck buff; except in high plumage 

 the feathers of the back, wings and even the under parts are more or less 

 edged with buffy whitish; the high plumage almost pure black, white and 

 buff. Female: Upper parts olive buff streaked with blackish; under parts 

 buffy white; a conspicuous line of buffy through the center of the crown and 

 from the base of the bill over each eye. Winter plumage: Both sexes 

 and yoiing similar to female but more olivaceous above and more buffy 

 below. In all plumages the tail feathers are sharp pointed. 



Length, cf 7.25-8 inches, 9 6.5-7; extent 12-12. 5; wing 3.75-4; tail 

 2.6-2.9; bill .6; tarsus i.i. 



Distribution. The Bobolink breeds from southeastern British Colum- 

 bia, Saskatchewan, central Quebec and Cape Breton to Utah, Illinois, 

 West Virginia and New Jersey, being most abundant in the Alleghanian 

 area ; winters in South America as far as Paraguay ; migrates mostly through 

 the West Indies and the coast of Central America. In New York State 

 the Bobolink probably breeds in every county. In the Catskills and 

 Adirondacks, however, he only enters as far as civilization has established 

 meadows and open, grassy fields for his accommodation. He is not 

 especially common on Staten Island and Long Island but, nevertheless, 

 breeds in each locality especially near the edge of the salt meadows. In 

 the rocky and dryer portions of the plateau region of New York he is not 

 so common as on the lowlands. 



