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VIII THE TRAVELS OF THE BOBOLINK THE Bobolink has
come! What welcome news this is to the bird-lover! Once more the meadows will
ring with his wild, tinkling, rollicking song. From a perch, or on fluttering
wings in the air, he pours out his “mad music.” When he begins to sing it seems
impossible for him to stop until, like a music box, he has run down. A little
rest, and he seems It is the first
week in May and we have been expecting this black and buff musician of the
pastures. He is as much a part of spring as the wild flowers or apple blossoms.
We know almost to a day when he will come; just as we know when they will
bloom. The flowers and the
trees have not left us. They are only waiting for the warm rays of the sun to
break forth into bud and blossom. But Bob has thousands of miles to travel and
many dangers to escape before he can keep his appointment with us. It is a
marvel that he is so rarely late. Where has he come
from? How did he get here? Now that he is here the best way to answer these
questions will be to go with him to his winter home. Then we can return with
him in the spring. BOB AT HOME
Within a month
after his arrival Bob and his plainly dressed, sparrow-like wife will have
chosen a home. So cunningly will they hide it on the ground among the grasses,
and so wary will they be in going to and from it, that we must watch them
closely and hunt carefully, if we would see the five or six heavily spotted
eggs it contains. In about two weeks these will hatch, and the first week in July the young Bobolinks will be on the wing. All of them, whether brother or sister, following the law among birds, will look like their mother. Even Bob himself will now change his black and buff and white wedding dress for the streaked costume of his wife. It has doubtless served its purpose by making him a handsome fellow in the eyes of his bride. But it has also made him easy to be seen by foe as well as by friend. Why, therefore, should he wear it until he again woos a mate?
It is even more
important that the young Bobs should wear a protecting coat. So now we have
them all clad alike. In changing their plumage they have also changed their
name. The Bobolink of summer has become the Reedbird or Ricebird of fall. At this time the
practice flights to roost in the marshes begin. The wild rice is approaching
the milky stage and the birds gather in great flocks to feed on it. This fare
not only gives them the only name by which many people know them, but it supplies
them with fuel for the great journey they are about to begin. Sadly enough it is
this fuel—or fat—which makes the Ricebird so highly prized for food. Strange as
it may seem, the much-loved musician of May is now hunted as though he were an
outlaw. Thousands and thousands of these wonderful songbirds are killed by
so-called sportsmen to eat. But surely there can be no sport in killing such
small birds, while to kill them for food is just as unpardonable as it would be
to make a potpie of Nightingales. Soon, let us hope, the law will forbid Bob’s
murder. Then perhaps he may return to places from which in recent years he has
vanished. Long ago Bobolinks
were common in summer about my home. To hear them singing was one of the
delights of my boyhood. But it is years since they have nested there. Trapping
in the spring and shooting in the fall are doubtless the reasons for their
disappearance. What would I not give to bring them back again! The morsel which
makes a mouthful when dead had within its tiny throat, when living, the power
to give one weeks of pleasure. THE JOURNEY SOUTH On the Atlantic
coast no Bobolinks nest south of Philadelphia. So when they are seen in
Washington during the last week in July we know that they are already embarked
on their great voyage to the South. They travel both by day and by night. The
watchword is chink, a clear, metallic note which, once it is known, cannot be
mistaken for that of any other bird. Often we may hear it from birds that are
too high to be seen. But our eyes are not needed to tell us that Bob is
traveling. The wild rice
marshes of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have great attractions
for the Ricebirds. It is not until the latter part of August that they reach
Charleston, South Carolina. Great quantities of cultivated rice were once
raised here on the coast. The Rice-birds’ time-table seemed to be arranged so
as to bring them to South Carolina just as the kernels of rice had reached the
milky stage. In clouds they
swarmed on the plantation. If they alighted in the rice field its crop was soon
destroyed. No effort was spared to keep them on the wing. Negroes were placed
on platforms built in the fields. Some were armed with whips having long
lashes; others had guns. When a great flock
of birds appeared the whips were snapped with a pistol-like report, guns were
fired, the men shouted. Everything was done that could be done to prevent the
flock from alighting. So numerous were
the birds that killing seemed to make no decrease in their ranks. It was more
important to frighten them than to kill them. It must be
confessed that Bob and his family did great damage to the rice crops. But he
did equal harm to himself. His enemies, the gunners, accused him of being a
pest. For this reason it has been impossible to have laws passed protecting
the Bobolink south of the country in which he spends the summer. From South Carolina
the Ricebirds continue their journey southward through Florida. Then they cross
directly to Cuba, where they arrive in September. Still the birds fly
southward. Some may fly directly across the Caribbean Sea to Colombia, a
journey of about 500 miles; others follow the coast of Central America. Many
stop for a while in Jamaica. They reach this island in October, and because of their
fatness are called Butterbirds. Whether some Ricebirds fly all the way from southern Cuba to northern South America we do not really know. But beyond question they must fly from Jamaica to the mainland of Central or South America. This is a journey of not less than 400 miles. Probably the birds make it in one night.
One might think
that having reached South America the Ricebirds would find suitable winter
quarters on the great savannas of Venezuela and Colombia. But still the way
leads southward. Down the Andes they go; over the great tropical forests,
across the Amazon, beyond the campos of Brazil to the great plains and marshes
on the upper waters of the Paraguay River. Here they are all crowded into a
region not more than one-third as large as that in which they live during the
summer. We have been
following the Bobolinks of the North Atlantic states, but the Bobolink’s summer
home stretches across the continent from the Atlantic almost to the Pacific. It is a pleasure
for us to know that if Bobolinks have been becoming rare in some parts of the
eastern United States they have been growing more common in some western
states. Bob is a true
pioneer. He has followed the farmer to the West. When irrigation turns the
desert places into fields of grain and alfalfa, the Bobolink in time appears.
In recent years he has crossed the Rockies to Utah and Nevada and British
Columbia. But like the children that might have gone from Oregon to New York by
way of Dakota and St. Louis, Bob goes to his winter home in Brazil over the
route which his ancestors gradually opened. Bobolinks are
practically unknown in Texas and Mexico. So we know that even the Bobolinks of
Nevada and Utah leave the United States by way of Florida. There they probably
join others from the eastern states and journey with them to South America. THE RETURN IN THE
SPRING The winter is
passed with no household cares. It has sometimes been supposed that birds might
rear a family in their winter as well as in their summer home. But this is not
so. No bird, so far as I know, nests in two widely separated places. The return journey
is begun in early March when Bob’s summer home is still icebound. But before
leaving Bob again completely changes his clothing and puts on a curious-looking
costume of dark, dull yellow, with bits of black showing in places. The truth
is that he really has on his black, buff, and white wedding dress. But almost
every feather of it is fringed with dull yellow. It is as though he wore a
traveling coat. As he goes northward the fringes slowly wear off, as if he
were losing a disguise. By the time he reaches his summer home they have all
gone and Bob shows his true colors. In the spring
Bobolinks follow backward over the route they used in the fall. Then young and
old, male and female travel together; but now the males go alone, some days
ahead of the females. They reach Jamaica and Cuba early in April. About April 15 they
arrive in southern Florida and some of them remain in the state until May. For
this reason they are called Maybirds. Few people who use this name know that
they are giving it to the same bird they called Ricebird in the fall. While in the South
the Bobolinks remain in close flocks, like Red-winged Blackbirds. Like the
Red-wings they sing in chorus. Multiply the song of one Bobolink one or two
hundred times and you may have some idea of the music a whole flock of
Bobolinks can make. Although the last
Bobolink does not leave Florida until late in May, the advance guard reaches
Washington the last week in April. May 1 they are due at New York, and a week
later at Boston. The Bobolinks of
northern New England and New Brunswick have been traveling for two months over
a route about four thousand miles long, and they make this great journey twice
a year to spend but little more than two months on their nesting grounds. But
in this short time they can rear their families. This is what they come for.
Why, then, should they stay longer? SUGGESTIONS FOR
STUDY Have you ever seen
a Bobolink? When? Where? Describe the colors of the male and female in the
spring; of the male in fall and winter. When does the Bobolink reach your
latitude in the spring? Describe the Bobolink’s call-note; his song. Where does
the Bobolink place his nest? When do the young take wing? Is there a second
brood? Outline on the map the area in which Bobolinks are found during the
summer. By what name is the Bobolink known in the fall? When does the fall
migration begin? By what is it preceded? Trace on the map the route followed by
a Bobolink in traveling from Massachusetts to its winter home. When does it
reach Jamaica? How far is it from Jamaica to the nearest part of the coast of
South America. What has induced the Bobolink to extend its summer range westward?
Trace on the map the route of a Bobolink in traveling from British Columbia to
its winter home. Why does it not go southward overland through Mexico? |