Page:Birdcraft-1897.djvu/258

 The most likely place to ﬁnd him is in old, bush-grown pastures, and along the lane hedges; like all the bright- hued birds he is beset by enemies both of earth and sky, but his Sparrow instinct, which has a. love for mother- earth, bids him build near the ground. The dangers of the nesting-time fall mostly to his share, for his dull brown mate is easily overlooked as an insigniﬁcant Sparrow. Na- ture almost always gives a plain coat to the Wives of these gayly dressed cavaliers, for her primal thought is the safety of the home and its young life.

FAMILY ICTERIDIE: BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. Bobolink: Dolichonyw oryzivorus. Aﬂer moult Reed-bird.

PLATE 35.

Length: 6.50-7 inches.

Male: Black head, chin. tail, wings, and under parts. Buﬁ patch on back of neck; also buﬁ edges to some tail and wing feathers. Rump and upper wing coverts White. Bill brown. In autumn similar to female.

Female: Below yellowish brown. Above striped brown, except on rump, with yellow and white tips to some feathers. Two dark stripes on crown.

Song: A delightful, incoherent melody; sung oftentimes as the bird soars upward.

Season : Early May to October.

Breeds: From the middle United States northward, and winters south of the United States.

Nest: A loose heap of twigs and grass on the ground in low meadows and hay-ﬁelds ; common, but very difﬁcult to discover.

Eggs: 4-6, clear gray, with clouds and markings of dark brown‘.

Range: Eastern North America to the Great Plains, north to south- ern Canada; south, in winter, to the West Indies and South America.

The Bobolink, the bird of two lives in one! The wild, ecstatic black and buff singer, who soars above the May meadows, leaving a trail of rippling music, and in autumn the brown striped bird who, voiceless but for a metallic

“chink,” is hunted through the marshes by the gunners, 165