THE BOBOLINK. 
(Dolicho/nyx oryzt/vorus.) 
Claws, long and feet strong for walking or clinging to 
weeds. Plumage of male, black, white and buff from 
May to August, when it changes to something like that 
of the female, a yellowish brown. Female smaller than male. 
Tail feathers, stiff and acute. Found in eastern United States 
and Canada. Breeds in June and July, after which they collect 
in large flocks and migrate. 
Their food in the early summer consists of insects entirely. 
In the middle states they are called ‘‘reed birds,’’ in the South 
“rice birds” and in the West Indies, where they winter, they are 
called butter-birds. 
They nest on the ground. Eggs, four to six, aslate gray, 
spotted and mottled with dark brown. They migrate at night. 
H*: Bobolink or Meadow-Wink is 7 to 7% inches long. 
“You see by Laura’s table,” said Miss Sweet, 
“that our present lesson begins with the Bobolink. I 
have written down the names of birds that you see on 
the blackboard, which I desire you to copy into your 
note books. I cannot emphasize too frequently the use 
of the ‘tables’ in your future study. I hope when 
school opens next fall that you will have taken many 
notes, from observation, on the habits of birds, their 
food, and their homes, for which you will have ample 
opportunity, even though you do not spend the vacation 
in the country.” 
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