14 THE RICE-BIRD.-BOB-0-LINK. 



unaware of this are often induced to search spots many rods distant from the 

 object of their pursuit. The nest is very simple, usually consisting of a few 

 pieces of hay and straw, so loosely arranged as hardly to admit of removal 

 without falling to pieces. The eggs, five in number, measure fifteen-six- 

 teenths of an inch in length, and eleven-sixteenths in breadth. About the 

 8th of August, they assemble in large flocks, and take their departure for 

 the south." 



In a male preserved in spirits, the palate is ascending, with two lateral 

 ridges, which on meeting anteriorly form a soft prominence; on the upper 

 mandible beneath are three ridges, of which the lateral are larger; the lower 

 mandible is deeply concave; the width of the mouth 4-| twelfths. The 

 tongue is 5 twelfths long, sagittate and papillate at the base, narrow, deep, 

 pointed, and with a median groove on its upper surface. It thus approaches 

 in form to that of the Finches and Buntings. The oesophagus is 2-^ inches 

 long, its greatest width 4^- twelfths, contracting to 2 twelfths as it enters the 

 thorax; the proventriculus 3 twelfths broad, its glands forming a belt 4 

 twelfths in breadth. The stomach is rather small, roundish, much com- 

 pressed, 6 twelfths in length, and of the same breadth; its lateral muscles 

 thick, the tendons large; the epithelium thin, tough, reddish-brown, with 

 longitudinal rugae. The intestine is 7 inches 9 twelfths long; its average 

 width 1^ twelfths; the coeca ^ twelfth long, ^ twelfth broad, 9 twelfths from 

 the extremity. 



The trachea is 1^ inches long, 1 twelfth broad at the upper part, con- 

 siderably compressed; the rings 55, with 2 dimidiate; the muscles as in the 

 last species; bronchi of about 12 half rings. 



Rice-Bunting, Emberiza oryzivora, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 48. 



Icterus agripennis, Bonap. Syn., p. 53. 



Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Sharp-tailed Mice-bird, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., 



vol. ii. p. 278. 

 Rice-bird, or Bob-o-link, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 185. 

 Rice-bird, Icterus agripennis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 283; vol. v. p. 486. 



Male with the head, cheeks, lower parts, wings, and tail, black; a band of 

 brownish-yellow across the hind neck; the back anteriorly black, the feathers 

 with yellowish edges, posteriorly light grey, passing into white, of which 

 colour are the scapulars. Female with the upper parts light yellowish-brown, 

 longitudinally streaked with blackish-brown; the lower parts light greyish- 

 yellow, the sides streaked with dusky. In autumn, the males assume the 

 plumage of the female. 



Male, 7, 11. 



Passes from Texas eastward and northward. Breeds from the Middle 

 Districts northward. Extremely abundant. Migratory. 



