The Bobolink 



No. 22 



Bobolink 



A. O. U. No. 494. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linnaeus). 



Synonyms. — Skunk-Blackbird. Reed-bird. Rice-bird. Meadow-wink. 



Description. — Adult male, breeding plumage: Head and below, rich glossy 

 black, — the feathers having at first a buffy edging which wears off as the season ad- 

 vances; a broad nuchal patch of strong buff (cream-buff to honey-yellow); scapulars, 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts pale white; middle back gray; upper back, 

 wings, and tail glossy to dead black, with various buftV edgings; tail-feathers sharply 

 pointed. Bill dull black; feet brown. Adult female: Ground color of plumage olive- 

 buff, — clearest below and in median crown, superciliary, and inter-scapular stripes; 

 the remainder black and brownish fuscous. Adults in fall, and young: Like female 

 in spring, but burner and with less black throughout. Length of male 178-190 (7.00- 

 7.50); wing 97.5 (3.84); tail 65 (2.56); bill 11 (.43); tarsus 27.2 (1.07). Female averages 

 a half-inch shorter, with similar proportions. 



Recognition Marks. — Towhee size; black, white, and buff plumage of breeding 

 male. The breeding female is a shy and obscurely-colored bird, to be recognized by 

 the amateur mainly through the attentions of the male. At other seasons both sexes 

 and all ages may be known by the frequently uttered dink cry. In the hand the acute 

 tail-feathers are quite distinctive. 



Nesting. — Nest: on the ground, in meadow or deserted field; a slight grass-lined 

 depression concealed with some art, but not definitely overarched. Eggs: 5 or 6, 

 rarely 7; yellowish gray (tilleul buff to pale smoke-gray) or greenish gray (light mineral- 

 gray); heavily and often sharply spotted or blotched with deep brown (diluting to 

 natal brown or army brown, or veiling to vinaceous gray). Av. size, 21.1 x 15.7 

 (.83 x .62). Season: About June 1st; one brood. 



General Range. — North and South America; breeding in Transition zone from 

 central latitudes of southern Canadian Provinces west to southeastern British Columbia 

 and northeastern California, east to Cape Breton Island and New Jersey, south to 

 about Latitude 40 ; wintering in South America to Bolivia and Paraguay. 



Distribution in California. — A breeder, perhaps irregularly, in the extreme 

 northeastern portion of the State (Eagleville, Surprise Valley, June 30, 1912); of casual 

 occurrence elsewhere; four records: (See Grinnell, Pacific Coast Avifauna, No. II, pp. 

 100, 101). 



Authorities. — Littlejohn, Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, vol. i., 1899, p. 73 (at Red- 

 wood City); Br en in ger. Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, vol. i., 1S99, p. 93 (at Monterey); 

 Fisher, W. K., Condor, vol. iv., 1902, p. 11 (at Mono Lake); Taylor, W. P., Condor, 

 vol. xiii., 1911, p. 211 (at San Bruno Lake); Dawson, Condor, vol. xviii., 1916, p. 

 28 (at Eagleville). 



IT IS highly characteristic of California that its vast and varied 

 empire should have provided a suitable asylum for this troubadour poet 

 of the East; and equally characteristic, perhaps, that his presence among 

 us should have passed almost unnoted. We are well nigh surfeited with 

 notabilities, we Californians, surfeited and perhaps a little spoiled. Lords 



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