BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 323 



The males chase each other madly, and swiftly pursue the 

 females over the grass tops ; or, sailing with down-bent 

 wings, pour forth their torrent of music. The alarm note is 

 a metallic chenk. When the young have been reared, the 

 males begin to lose their striking dress, the song ceases, 

 and early in August the Bobolinks are seen flying about 

 in small flocks, uttering mellow 

 chinks, as they prepare for their 

 southern journey. 



In May, June, and July insects 

 form about eighty-five per cent, 

 of the Bobolink's food. The bird 



is very destructive to grasshop- Fig. 145.- Bobolink, female. 



pers and caterpillars, particularly to the army worm. It 

 eats some parasitic Hymenoptera, and this may be looked 

 upon as a bad habit ; but otherwise little fault can be found 

 with the Bobolink while it remains in the meadows of the 

 noith. 



Bobolinks once caused a great loss to the Atlantic coast 

 rice growers, and in September most of their employees 

 were engaged in shooting at or frightening the birds. Now, 

 coast rice growing is a vanishing industry, and the birds are 

 shot mainly for the market. This should be prohibited by 

 law. It has reduced the number of birds breeding in the 

 north, and Bobolinks are not so common in Massachusetts 

 as they were years ago. They have been depleted some by 

 early mowing, and their diminution from year to year is 

 more and more perceptible. 



PIGEONS AND DOVES. 



This group of birds is now represented in Massachusetts 

 by but one species, the Mourning Dove, as the Passenger 

 Pigeon appears to have disappeared, and may now be ex- 

 tinct. The Mourning Dove, which is often mistaken for it, 

 is now protected by law at all times, and probably will be 

 saved from the fate of the Pigeon. Presumably all the sup- 

 posed " wild Pigeons " now reported by diflerent observers 

 in Massachusetts are Mourning Doves. 



