I20 BIRD PARADISE 



Most of the bobolinks have left us and are 

 journeying toward the South. I saw a flock this 

 morning high in the air gaily pushing on their 

 way. The monotonous chirp was all the sound 

 they uttered and that they kept up while they 

 were within hearing. The male birds have 

 dropped their distinctive coloring, and the en- 

 tire tribe appears in its common, sober brown 

 dress. What an experience they will have from 

 this time on to next spring ! Perfectly free to 

 go and come at will, plenty of food always at 

 their command, nothing to do but live and enjoy 

 life, it would seem that they might rank with 

 the happiest of the happy. In a measure they 

 do, but the vicissitudes of life company with 

 them wherever they go. After they leave the 

 North they lose largely all legal protection. 

 When they reach the rice fields of the South they 

 become real pests to the farmers of that section 

 and in self-defense the farmers are obliged to 

 wage war upon them. Thousands are killed and 

 used for food. About the first of January they 

 come to the waters of the Gulf. Here they tarry 

 for a little time, then launch out for their ulti- 

 mate destination in South America. Here they 

 spend a few weeks on the great plains — entirely 



