130 
BOBOLINK. RICE BIRD. 
DIMENSIONS 
Average measurements of twenty male specimens. Length, 7• 42; stretch, 12-00; wing, 3-86; tail, 2-77; bill, -55; tar¬ 
sus, l - 07. Longest specimen, 7’60; greatest extent of wing, 12'60; longest wing, 4 - 00; tail, 2-85; bill, -60; tarsus, l - 10. 
Shortest specimen, 7’25; smallest extent of wing, ll - 60; shortest wing, 3'72; tail, 2 - 48; bill, -50; tarsus, 1-05. 
Average measurements of twenty female specimens. Length, 6’97; stretch, 10'42; wing, 3-40; tail, 2-45; bill, -52; tar¬ 
sus, -97. Longest specimen, 7’25; greatest extent of wing, 11-35; longest wing,3'00; tail, 2-55; bill, "58; tarsus, 1-05. 
Shortest specimen, 6*70; smallest extent of wing, 10‘40; shortest wing, 3 - 20; tail, 2-25; bill, -48; tarsus, -95. 
DESCRIPTION OE NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground, being composed of coarse dried grass lined with finer. Dimensions; external diameter, 
4‘00, internal, 3'00. External depth, 2‘50, internal, 2-00. 
Eggs, four or five in number, oval inform, ashy-white in color, often spotted and blotched so thickly with chocolate- 
brown as to nearly cover the ground. Sometimes they have lines of darker, but I have seen them when it was difficult to 
distinguish them from those of the Song Sparrow. Dimensions from *70 x "54 to ’75 x -60. 
HABITS. 
I do not know of any species among our summer visitants, that arrive with such reg¬ 
ularity as the Bobolinks. By the tenth of May, or within a day or two of this date, the 
lively, rattling, energetic song of the males is sure to he heard in Massachusetts, and a few 
days later their duller colored mates appear. They must migrate very rapidly for I heard 
them passing over the Gulf of Mexico late in April, hut they do not stop long in Florida, 
neither did I ever hear them give the full song there, hut they utter a few hurried snatches 
hy way of practice as they fly northward. It is only in their summer home that they give 
the entire melody which has made them famous. 
When the bright days of early June have come and the trees have assumed their full 
dress, when the waving grass in the meadows is of that delicate tint never seen at any 
other season, when all vegetation is showing its best and most brilliant green, the lay of 
the Bobolink is to be heard to perfection. Springing upwards from the dewy herbage 
the male begins that wondrous carol, which is continued as he flies through the air, until 
he arrives over the spot where his mate is sitting on her eggs; then with extended wings 
he circles quickly downward, alighting beside her with a peculiar che-che-che given with 
great determination. There are but few of our native birds which sh6w so much spirit 
while giving their song as the Bobolink, for he enters vigorously into the performance, 
and the song of one seems to inspire his neighbors, for when he begins all those which 
are within hearing also commence until the fields resound with joyous melody. But it is 
only during the breeding season that the full song is heard, after this is over and the young 
appear in their yellow dress, the males are more silent, but they do not readily forget their 
carol, and I have heard them give their spring performance even while moulting. When 
they have fairly assumed the autumnal dress, they only utter the metallic like call note 
which is given while they are on the wing. 
The nests of the Bobolinks are placed on the ground, usually in a thick tuft of grass 
which serves to conceal them. The female if approached when on the nest, will quietly 
creep away through the sheltering herbage and rise some distance from the spot, and thus 
it is difficult to find the eggs; but as the male has the habit above described of frequently 
alighting near his mate where she is sitting, one can judge of the approximate position 
of the nest by watching him. 
