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Genus I.— DOLICHONYX Swains. RICE-BIRD. 
Bill rather short, very stout, moderately compressed, conical ; upper man- 
dible with the dorsal line straight, a little convex at the base, and very 
slightly deflected at the end, its ridge rather broad, indistinct, sides rounded, 
edges direct, overlapping, tip rather acute ; lower mandible with the angle 
of moderate length, very broad, dorsal outline ascending, slightly convex at 
the base, sides erect and convex, tip acute ; gap-line ascending for a fourth 
of its length, then direct. Nostrils small, elliptical, operculate. Plumage 
blended, but firm, with little gloss. Wings rather long, pointed, the first 
quill longest. Tail of moderate length, the feathers narrow and acuminate. 
Toes large; claws very long, little arched, slender, taperiug to a fine point 
THE RICE-BIRD. — BOB-O-LINK. 
Dolicuonyx oryzivora, Linn. 
TLATE CCXI. — Male axd Female. 
Very few of these birds pass through Louisiana in spring, and still fewer, 
on their return, in autumn ; for which reason I am inclined to think that 
they do not spend the winter months so much in the southern parts of Ame- 
rica as in some of the West India Islands. Indeed I am the more inclined 
to believe this to be the case, as they seldom penetrate far into the interior, 
during their stay with us, but prefer the districts bordering upon the Atlan- 
tic, through which they pass and repass in incredible numbers. 
In Louisiana, small detached flocks of males or of females appear about 
the middle of March and beginning of April, alighting in the meadows and 
grain-fields, where they pick up the grubs and insects found about the roots 
of the blades. I have heard it asserted, though I cannot give it as a fact, 
