BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 163 



surface, from which they also pick up any sort of garbage suited to 

 their appetite ; sometimes they pursue and attack the small terns and 

 gulls, to force them to disgorge the small fish that they have captured. 

 They are able to capture live fish with considerable dexterity, but can- 

 not feed on the wing; occasionally these birds alight on the backs of 

 cattle, to search there for the larvae which frequently harbor in their 

 skin. During the winter and spring, the Fish Crows are very fond of 

 feeding on many kinds of berries. As spring advances, and the early 

 fruits ripen the Fish Crows become fond of the mulberry, and select 

 the choicest of the ripe figs, more especially when they are feeding 

 their young. A dozen are often seen at a time, searching for the tree 

 which has the best figs, and so troublesome do they become in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of Charleston, that it is found necessary to station a 

 man near a fig tree with a gun. They also eat pears, as well as vari- 

 ous kinds of huckleberries. 



FAMILY ICTERID^. BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



GENUS DOLICHONYX. SWAINSON. 

 494. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (LixN.). 



Bobolink. Reed Bird. 



DESCRIPTION. {Plate 26 male and female in Spring). 



Bill short, stout, conical and much shorter than head ; tail feathers sharp-pointed 

 and stiff, quite like a woodpecker's ; claws all very large ; middle toe very long, 

 measuring with claw 1.25 inches; bill dark, lighter at base of lower mandible; 

 legs and feet (freshly killed specimens) brownish-yellow ; iris brown. General color 

 of male in spring and during breeding season (June and July) black ; some of the 

 black feathers are usually more or less edged with yellowish ; the nape brownish- 

 cream color ; a patch on the side of the breast, the scapulars and rump white, shading 

 into light ash on the upper tail covers and the back below the interscapular region 

 the outer primaries sharply margined with yellowish-white, the tertials less abruptly; 

 the tail feathers margined at the tips with pale brownish ash. In autumn similar to 

 the female. In the early autumn males are often seen with black feathers (some- 

 times though seldom in patches) on the breast. 



Female, yellowish beneath ; two stripes on the top of the head, and the upper 

 parts throughout, except the back of the neck and rump, and includingall the wing 

 feathers generally, dark -brown, all edged with brownish-yellow ; ^vhich becomes 

 whiter nearer the tips of the quills ; the sides sparsely streaked with dark -brown, 

 and a similar stripe behind the eye ; there is a superciliary and a median band of 

 yellow on the head. 



Length of male about 7.25 inches ; extent about 12.25 inches. Female averages a 

 little smaller. 



Hob. Eastern North America to the Great Plains; north to southern Canada; 

 south in winter, to the West Indies and South America. Breeds from the Middle 

 States northward, and winters south of the United States. 



Bobolinks are known by a variety of common names. The terms 

 "Bobolink" and "Meadow Wink" are applied in imitation of its voice ; 



