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



York and Connecticut^ and extend their journey to the easternmost of our 

 districts, proceeding also to the borders of Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, 

 and the St. Lawrence. 



By this time they have become so plentiful, and have so dispersed all 

 over the country, that it is impossible to see a meadow or a field of corn 

 which does not contain several pairs of them. The beauty, or, perhaps more 

 properly, the variety of their plumage, as well as of their song, attracts the 

 attention of the bird-catchers. Great numbers are captured and exposed for 

 sale in the markets, particularly in those of the city of New York. They 

 are caught in trap-cages, and feed and sing almost immediately after. Many 

 are carried to Europe, where the shipper is often disappointed in his profits, 

 as by the time they reach there, the birds have changed their colours and 

 seem all females. 



Whilst the love-season lasts, the males are more sprightly than ever. 

 Their song is mostly performed in the air, while they are rising and falling 

 in successive jerks, which are as amusing as the jingling of their vocal essays. 

 The variety of their colours is at this juncture very remarkable. It is equally 

 so, when, on rising from among the grass and flying away from the observer, 

 they display the pure black and white of their wings and body. 



The nest of the Rice Bunting is placed on the ground, without much 

 apparent care as to choice of situation, but always amongst the grass, or in 

 a field of wheat or barley. It is composed of coarse dried grasses and leaves 

 externally, and is lined with finer meadow grass. It appears large for the 

 size of the bird. The female lays from four to six eggs, of a white colour, 

 strongly tinged with dull blue, and irregularly spotted with blackish. They 

 raise only one brood in a season. 



No sooner have the young left the nest, than they and their parents 

 associate with other families, so that by the end of July large flocks begin to 

 appear. They seem to come from every portion of the Eastern States, and 

 already resort to the borders of the rivers and estuaries to roost. Their 

 songs have ceased, the males have lost their gay livery, and have assumed 

 the yellow hue of the females and young, although the latter are more firm 

 in their tints than the old males, and the whole begin to return southward, 

 slowly and with a single clink, sufficient however to give intimation of their 

 passage, as they fly high in long files during the whole day. 



Now begin their devastations. They plunder every field, but are shot in 

 immense numbers. As they pass along the sea shores, and follow the muddy 

 edges of the rivers, covered at that season with full grown reeds, whose tops 

 are bent down with the weight of the ripe seeds, they alight amongst them 

 in countless multitudes, and afford abundant practice to every gunner. 



It is particularly towards sunset, and when the weather is fine, that the 



