THE BLACKBIRD FAMILY 131 



n 



^Range — ^North America, from Eastern coast to Western 

 prairies. Migrates in early autumn to Southern states, 

 and in winter to South America and West Indies. 



Migrations— ^axly May. From July to October. Com- 

 mon summer resident. 

 {See plate, page 130.) 



|,0n a May morning, when buttercups spangle the fresh 

 grasses in the meadows, this rollicking jolly fellow rises 

 from their midst into the air with the J merriest frolic of a 

 song you ever head. Loud, clear, strong, full of queer 

 kinks and twists that could not possibly be written down in 

 our musical scale, the rippling, reckless music seems to keep 

 his wings in motion as well as his throat; for when it sud- 

 denly bursts forth, up he shoots into the air like a skylark, 

 and paddles himself along with just the tips of his wings 

 while it is the "mad music" that seemingly propels him — 

 then he drops with his song into the grass again^ Fre- 

 quently he pours out his hilarious melody while swafying on 

 the slender stems of the grasses, propped by the stiff, 

 pointed feathers of his tail. A score or more of bobolinks 

 rising in some open meadow all day long, are worth travel- 

 ing miles to hear. 



If you were to see the mate of one of these merry min- 

 strels apart from him, she might be easily mistaken for an- 

 other of those tiresome sparrows. A brown, streaked bird, 

 with some buff and a few white feathers, she shades into 

 the colors of the groimd as well as they and covers her loose 

 heap of twigs, leaves and grasses in the hayfield so har- 

 moniously that few people ever find it or the clever sitter. 



As early as the Fourth of July, bobolinks begin to desert 

 the choir, being the first birds to leave us. Traveling 



