LAND BIRDS. 433 
Monroe county, from April 26, 1885 to May 6, 1897, while at South Frank- 
fort, Benzie county, Mich., the earliest date is May 21, 1892, and there is 
a single record at Sault Ste. Marie on May 28, 1900. As in many other 
cases the males usually precede the females by a week or more and nesting 
does not begin until perhaps a fortnight later. 
Nests with fresh eggs are most often found during the first week in June, 
but in some years they may be built as early as the 20th of May. The 
nest is invariably placed on the ground, usually sunk flush with the surface, 
somewhat deeply hollowed, and carefully concealed by the surrounding 
vegetation. It may be placed in a meadow, a pasture or a grain field, 
and occasionally in ground so low that it is flooded by heavy rains. So 
thoroughly is the nest concealed that it is seldom discovered while it 
contains eggs, except by flushing the female from the nest, but after the 
young are hatched a little careful watching of the birds usually will indicate 
the exact location. The eggs vary from four to seven, but are commonly 
five or six in number. They are dull white, heavily spotted with dark 
brown or bluish, and often irregularly scratched and pen-marked with 
black. They average .83 by .61 inches. But one brood is reared in the 
season. 
From the time of arrival until the young are out of the nest the males 
sing constantly and the indescribable song is by many considered the 
most remarkable, if not the most beautiful, of any of our bird songs. As 
soon as the young are on the wing the male begins to moult his dark suit 
and usually by the first of August can be distinguished from the female 
only by his somewhat larger size and rather deeper yellow color. At this 
time young and old resemble each other quite closely and, many families 
uniting into one flock, they roam from one meadow or grain field to another, 
feeding freely upon grass seeds, weed seeds, and sometimes upon grain 
(most commonly oats) in the milk. The damage done in this way, however, 
is negligible and is more than offset by the destruction of weed seeds, which 
must be enormous. Moreover, during the entire nesting season both old 
and young feed very largely upon insects, thus conferring a vast benefit 
upon the agriculturist. Among these insects weevils, cutworms and 
grasshoppers are conspicuous, and although numerous other insects are 
consumed those just named appear to form the bulk of the insect food 
during June, July and August. 
Although one of our most beautiful and valuable birds, it would be hardly 
fair to withhold the statement that our Bobolink passes southward about 
the first of September, and uniting with various species of blackbirds pillages 
the rice-fields of South Carolina, Georgia and the Gulf Coast where it is 
commonly known as the “Rice Bird.” The damage done to ripening 
rice is very great and it not unfrequently causes losses of thousands of 
dollars to individual planters. Prof. F. E. L. Beal makes the following 
statement in this connection: “The picturesqueness of the Bobolink 
and the melody of its song do not offset the financial loss and harrassing 
care of the southern rice grower. As the case stands at present the harm 
done by the bird far outweighs its benefits; but it is to be hoped that 
science may devise some means by which the rice growers may be relieved 
from some portion, if not all, of the labor and expense now incident to 
saving their crops from its devastations” (Bull. No. 13, Division of Biolo- 
gical Survey, U. S. Dep’t of Agriculture). 
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