THE DICKCISSEIv. 105 



No. 47. 



DICKCISSEL. 



A. O. U. No. 604. Spiza americana (Gmel.). 



Synonym. — ^Black-throatbd Bunting. 



Description. — Adult male : Head and neck above and on sides dark gray, 

 tinged with yellow on crown ; a yellow superciliary stripe, and a yellow maxillary 

 spot; chin and sides of throat white, nearly enclosing an apron-shaped patch of 

 black; breast lemon-yellow; sides and flanks smoky gray fading into dingy white 

 of belly ; remaining upper parts light brown, modified by dusky stripes of middle 

 back, and fuscous of wings and tail ; lesser and middle wing-coverts bright bay ; 

 edge of wing yellow: Adult female: Similar but without black patch on throat, 

 and with less yellow ; scattering maxillary and pectoral black streaks ; bay of 

 wings merely indicated by rufous edgings. The plumage of the adults is brighter 

 in the fall. Length 6.00-7.00 (152.4-177.8) ; wing 3.28 (83.3) ; tail 2.31 (58.7) ; 

 bill .54 (13.7). Female smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; black throat and, yellow breast of male 

 (somewhat like the Meadowlark's) ; female obscure, but showing traces of same 

 coloration. 



Nest, a bulky but well made structure of weed-stalks, grasses and leaves, 

 lined with finer grasses, rootlets, etc. ; placed low in trees or bushes, or on the 

 ground. Bggs, 4 or 5, pale blue, glossy. Av. size, .80 x .63 (20.3 x 16.). 



General Range. — Eastern United States, west to Rocky Mountains, north to 

 Ontario and the Dakotas ; rare easterly. South in winter through Central America 

 to northern South America; southwest in migrations to Arizona. 



Range in Ohio. — Not uncommon in western and central portions, but locally 

 restricted ; rare or wanting in the northern and eastern portion. 



NATURE is a harmonious whole and her language is in a sense above 

 criticism. But her various voices must be heard each in its appropriate set- 

 ting. The scream of the eagle befits the crag alone, and the lisping of the wood 

 warbler must be accompanied by the tender rustle of unfolding green. Similarly 

 the song of Dickcissel, that dear droning midsummer sound, requires the setting 

 of ample meadow or boundless prairie to be rightly understood. Nothing could 

 be more absurd or more monotonous to the point of madness than the iterative 

 clatter of a Dickcissel pent within four walls. But sprinkle about a dozen of 

 him over the bending daisies of a forty acre field, set a light breeze blowing, turn 

 on the music, and nothing could be more eloquent of the delights of haying time 

 and harvest than the earnest tautophony of this same bird. It is the sub-dom- 

 inant note of out-of-doors, blending alike with the clink-clank of the smitten 

 scythe, the clattering din of the twine-binder, or the chorus of the reapers' song. 



The bird usually selects the highest point available, — a commanding tree- 

 top, a passing telegraph wire, or a stout clover-stem if nothing better offers. 

 Here with head erect or nodding with the rythm, he pours forth by the hour 



