— 52 — 



and Atlantic coast, as far north as Long Island ; resident through- 

 out its range. A common inhabitant of the Lower Hudson River 

 Valley as far north as Sing Sing and occasionally reaches High- 

 land Falls. In Connecticut it is of regular occurrence as far east 

 as Stratford {Fames, Auk, VI, 1889, p. 338), while on Long Island 

 its exact status appears to be unknown, though it is probably not 

 uncommon. 



Family STURNID^. -Starlings. 



*Sturnus vulgaris Linn. Starling. (493 ) — This Old World 

 species has been introduced into this country on several occasions, 

 but only the last importation appears to have been successful. The 

 birds included in this lot were imported, and released in Central 

 Park, under the direction of Mr. Eugene Schiefflin of this city. 

 They seem to have left the Park and to have established themselves 

 in various places in the upper part of the city A pair have bred 

 for three successive seasons in the roof of this Museum. Mr. S. 

 H. Chubb reports a pair nesting in a church at i22d st. and Lenox 

 avenue, and they have also nested at 100th st. and Riverside Drive. 

 Mr. C. B. Isham tells me he has found their nest at Kingsbridge, 

 New York City, and that he repeatedly observed a flock of fifty birds 

 in the same locality during the late summer and fall of 1893 and 

 1894. 



Family ICTERID^E. — Blackbirds, Orioles, etc. 



*2i8. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (Linn.). Bobolink; Reed- 

 bird. (494.) — Breeds from southern New Jersey northw T ard to Nova 

 Scotia, westward to Utah and northern Montana ; leaves the United 

 States byway of Florida and winters in South America. A locally 

 distributed summer resident, arriving in early May and remaining 

 until October. About the middle of July the males assume the 

 Reed-bird plumage and resort to our wild-rice marshes, where 

 they are joined by large numbers from the north, which pause to 

 feed on the wild-rice. 



Fifteen years ago the Bobolink was an abundant and generally 

 distributed summer resident in this vicinity. Since that date it 

 has rapidly decreased in numbers and is now entirely wanting in 

 localities where it was formerly of regular occurrence. 



