4° 
Chapman on the Winter Distribution of the Bobolink. \ January 
capture without giving the data of its occurrence, thus rendering 
impossible a satisfactory study of its migration or an accurate 
knowledge of the area it inhabits during the winter. 
In the neighborhood of New York City the Bobolink com- 
mences its southern migration in July, great numbers flocking 
at this season in the wild rice ( Zizania aquaticd) marshes, and 
here many remain until early October, at which date their less 
tardy comrades have already reached the island of Jamaica. 
From Dr. Merriam’s report* * * § we learn that our bird, now a Rice- 
bird, appears in the rice fields of South Carolina and Georgia 
from August 15 to 21, and here, apparently content with their 
surroundings, they remain for several weeks without making 
further advance. In Cuba Gundlachf records their arrival in Sep- 
tember in immense flocks, which remain only for a short time 
and then continue their journey southward. 
Now appears an interesting question concerning their further 
line of flight. Three routes are open to them ; ( 1 ) they may go 
to the westward, following the Cuban coast, thence, crossing to 
Cozumel and Yucatan, pursue their migration along the Central 
American coast to Panama, etc. 5(2) they may go to the east- 
ward through Hayti, San Domingo, and Porto Rico, and thence 
southward through the Windward Islands; or (3) they may 
strike out boldly and take the more direct course, crossing the sea 
to Jamaica and then in one extended flight reach the mainland of 
northern South America. An examination of the published 
records of the bird’s occurrence shows that all three routes are 
followed to a greater or less extent, but it is apparent that com- 
paratively few birds go as far east as the Windward Chain, while 
perhaps as many go through Jamaica as pass down the Central 
American coast. The records, however, from the last-named 
region are too brief to permit of satisfactory conclusions being 
drawn from them, and I merely present them as they stand. 
From Cozumel the Bobolink is recorded by Salvin,j who also 
states§ that many examples were taken by Gaumer in Yucatan 
and on the islands off the east coast of Honduras. From Hon- 
* Dept, of Agriculture, 1886. Report of the Ornithologist and Mammalogist, pp. 
248-249. 
t Journal fur Ornithologie, 1874, P- I2 9- 
X Ibis, 1885, p. 191. 
§ Biologia Centrali-Americana, Aves, p. 448. 
1890.] 
Chapman on the Winter Distribution of the Bobolink. 
4 1 
duras we also have another record by the same author,* to 
which I will refer later, and we find the species included by 
ZeledonJ in his list of the birds of Costa Rica. Swainson’sj; 
record from the highlands of Mexico, which probably refers to 
the western race, D. o. albinucha , completes the Mexican and 
Central American records with which I am familiar. 
Turning now to the second route, leading through the Wind- 
ward Islands, we find that from Hayti, San Domingo, or Porto 
Rico we have as yet no notice of the bird’s appearance. Our 
first record, therefore, is from the small island of Sombrero in the 
Virgin group, where Lawrence? records it, and in the Catalogue 
of the British Museum || a specimen is cited from Nevis; both 
records are without data, but there is a specimen in the American 
Museum labelled, “Sombrero, Sep. 17, 1862, Julien,” on which 
the first was probably based. From Guadeloupe and Martinique 
the bird is given by L’Herminier,^ and this completes the 
Windward Island records until we come to the last of the chain, 
Grenada. From this island we have some very welcome and 
valuable information by Wells,** * who during three years’ obser- 
vations had met with the species on only one occasion, when he 
captured one from a flock of five birds. Reference to this speci- 
men in the American Museum collection shows it to have been 
taken October 1, 1885. 
Passing now to a consideration of the data from the third, or 
• last route mentioned, we find that great numbers of birds select 
this more direct line of migration. After leaving the island of 
Cuba the birds’ first resting place would be the Caymans, distant 
about one hundred and seventy-five miles. Mr. Cory writes me 
that his record of their occurrence on Little Caymanfl is based on 
two specimens, a male taken April 29, and a female taken April 
30, and while it is probable that they also visit these islands in 
the fall, we may presume that the greater numbers follow the 
Cuban coast^to at least Cape Cruz, or to a point directly north of 
* Ibis, 1866, p. 194. 
t Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., VIII, 1885, p. 107. 
I J Phil. Mag., New Ser., I, p. 435. 
§ Ann. N. Y. Lyc., 1864, p. 99. 
|| Cat. Brit. Mus., XI, p. 332. 
i H Cf. Lawrence, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1, 1878, p. 450. 
** Ibid., IX, 1886, p. 616. 
t+ Auk, VI, 1889, p. 31. 
1056. Ravages of Rice-Birds. By Hon. Warner Miller. Congres- 
sional Record , 49th Congress, June u, 1886, p. 5747. — A loss of $6.87 
per acre caused by the Rice Birds to the rice crop, and the total annual 
loss to one plantation is estimated at $8,250. 
687. Bobolinks. Editorial. Ibid., p. 14.— On their scarcity in Con- 
necticut, and their wholesale destruction by gunners along the Delaware 
and southward in the fall. 1,000,000 Rails and Bobolinks killed near the 
mouth of the Delaware “during the month of SeptemberalojieJ’ '** ® U " VOi ‘ V *** 
1247. Economic Ornithology. Ibid., No. 18, Oct. 30^ p. 415. On 
work of the Division of Economic Ornithology, Dept, of Agricultun 
procuring data concerning the relations to man of Passer domesticus 
the 
in 
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1 164. [ Disappearance oJ~\ the Bobolink \in Central Ne-w f ork. J By 
Portsa. Ibid., No. 1, July 29, p. JSP©?. & Stream. V Ol. XXVII 
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