THE BOBOLINK. 



31 



birds and American Orioles, foremost among which 

 is the Bobolink, or Keed-bird or Rice-bird, that bright, 

 active little bird which comes to us in the spring in 

 a beautiful coat of black and white, sings sweetly for 

 a few short weeks, _^ -_ -^ 



then changing his 

 suit for one of dusky 

 grey, commences a 

 process of gormandi- 

 zing which soon fits 

 him for the gun of 

 the sportsman and the 

 epicure's table. 



The following beau- 

 tiful description of 

 this bird is from the 

 pen of Washington 

 Irving : 



" The happiest bird 

 of our spring, and one 



that rivals the Euro- Bobolink, or Reea-binl. 



pean lark in my estimation, is the Boblincon or Bob- 

 link, as he is called. He arrives at that choice 

 period of our year which, in this latitude, answers 

 to the description of the month of May, so often 

 given by the poets. With us it begins about the 

 middle of May, and lasts until nearly the middle of 

 June. Earlier than this, winter is apt to return on 

 its traces, and to blight the opening beauties of the 

 year; later than this begin the parching and panting 

 and dissolving heats of summer. But in this genial 



