RICE BUNTING, OR BOB-O-LINK. 187 
kinds of insects and worms on their first arrival, I have 
found that their frequent visits among the grassy 
meadows were often also for the seeds they contain; and 
they are particularly fond of those of the Dock and Dan- 
delion, the latter of which is sweet and oily. Later in 
the season, and previously to leaving their native regions, 
they feed principally on various kinds of grass seeds, par- 
ticularly those of the Panicums , which are allied to mil- 
let. They also feed on crickets and grasshoppers, as well 
as beetles and spiders. Their nest is fixed on the ground 
in a slight depression, usually in a field of meadow grass, 
either in a dry or moist situation, and consists merely of a 
loose bedding of withered grass, so inartificial, as scarcely 
to be distinguishable from the rest of the ground around it. 
The eggs are 5 or 6, of a dull white, inclining to olive, 
scattered all over with small spots and touches of lilac 
brown, with some irregular blotches of dark rufous brown, 
chiefly disposed towards the larger end. 
The males, arriving a little earlier than the other sex, 
now appear very vigorous, lively, and familiar. Many 
quarrels occur before the mating is settled ; and the fe- 
males seem at first very coy and retiring. Emulation 
fires the Bob-6-link at this period, and rival songsters pour 
out their incessant strains of enlivening music from every 
fence and orchard tree. The quiet females keep much on 
the ground, but as soon as they appear, they are pursued 
by the ardent candidates for their affection, and if either 
seems to be favored, the rejected suitor is chased off the 
ground, as soon as he appears, by his more fortunate rival. 
The song of the male continues with little interruption as 
long as the female is sitting, and his chant, at all times very 
similar, is both singular and pleasant. Often, like the Sky- 
lark, mounted, and hovering on the wing, at a small 
height above the field, as he passes along from one tree 
