188 
VERTEBE, ATA. 
Bird, the Sonff- Sparrow, the Meadow-Lark, Yellow Warbler, Blue-Gray Fly-Catcher, Golden- 
crowned Thrmh, and Wilsonh Thrush. When the female is disposed to lay, she steals through 
the bushes and brambles till she finds the nest that suits her ; she then slyly and quickly deposits 
her egg, and immediately proceeds back to the flock. The strange egg is often a subject of 
wonder or surprise to the lawful proprietor of the nest; sometimes it causes a desertion of the 
premises; more commonly, however, it is duly hatched, and the 5'^oung one carefully reared. 
Sometimes the athletic parasite stifles the legitimate offspring, in Avhich case the lifeless remains 
are removed by the parents, who yet — unconscious of the cause of the mischief — continue to feed 
and cherish it as their own child. When fully fledged, the young bird departs and skulks about 
for a time, when at last, guided by instinct, he joins the flock of his kith and kin. They are now 
seen m small parties around the cattle in the cow-pen or the pastures, feeding on the seeds and 
worms which they pick up among the fodder or the excrements of these domestic animals. They 
seem to have an affinity with the red-winged blackbirds, and often large flocks of the two kinds 
may be seen together, sometimes feeding in the fields of corn and rice, and sometimes wheeling 
and winding in blackening masses through the air. The cow-blackbird has no song, and pos- 
sesses few attractive qualities ; in confinement it utters a low, guttural splutter, intended for music, 
at the same time strutting before the spectator with the aff"ected airs of a turkey-cock. 
THE BOBLINK. 
Genus DOLYCHONIX : Dolychonix. — This includes the D. orizivorus, one of our most curi- 
ous, eccentric, and amusing birds, the harlequin of the meadows, known at the north by the 
names of Boblink, or Bob-o'-link, or Bob-o'-lincoln, to which may be added the various titles 
of Reed-Bird, Rice-Bird, Rice-Bunting, May-Bird, Meacloiu-Bird, American Ortolan, Butter- 
Bird, and SkunJc-Blackbird. It is six and a half inches long; color black; head and rump 
white, tinged with yellow. This is the full spring costume of the male ; the female is brownish- 
black and yellow above, dull yellow beneath. This is nearly the appearance of the young birds, 
and also of the male in autumn. These birds migrate northward in spring, proceeding by night, 
and retire in October, flying by day. They feed on crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, and 
seeds of various kinds, particularly those of grasses. Their range is from Mexico to Canada. The 
eggs, four or five in number, are bluish-white, spotted, and placed in a nest on the ground, usu- 
ally in the meadows. The "song of the male," says AVilson, "while the female is sitting, is sin- 
gular and very agreeable. Mounting and hovering on wing, at a small height above the field, 
he chants out such a jingling medley of short, variable notes, uttered with such seeming confu- 
sion and rapidity, and continued for a considerable time, that it appears as if half a dozen birds 
