extremely interesting, and emitted with a volubility bordering on the
burlesque, is heard from a whole party at the same time; when, as each
individual is, of course, possessed of the same musical powers as his
neighbours, it becomes amusing to listen to thirty or forty of them beginning
one after another, as if ordered to follow in quick succession, after
the first notes are given by a leader, and producing such a medley as it
is impossible to describe, although it is extremely pleasant to hear it.
While you are listening, the whole flock simultaneously ceases, which appears
equally extraordinary. This curious exhibition takes place every
time that the flock has alighted on a tree, after feeding for a while on the
ground, and is renewed at intervals during the day.
There is a very remarkable fact in the history of this species, which
is, that while moving eastward, during their migration, in spring, they
fly mostly at night; whereas in autumn, when they are returning southward,
their flight is diurnal. This, kind reader, is another puzzle to me.
About the middle of May, the Boblinks reach the State of New
York, their stay in the intermediate States being of short duration at that
season, although sufficient to enable them to cause great injury to the
corn fields in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, where it is said, although
T can scarcely give credit to the assertion, that they cut the
blade near the root. This is perhaps laid to their charge for the purpose
of aggravating the real injury which they afterwards inflict on the
farmers, by feeding on the grain when in a milky and tender state.
However, they reach the States of New York and Connecticut, and extend
their journey to the easternmost of our districts, proceeding also to
the borders of Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, and the St Laurence.
By this time, they have become so plentiful, and have so dispersed
all over the country, that it is impossible to see a meadow or a field of
corn, which does not contain several pairs of them. The beauty, or, perhaps
more properly, the variety of their plumage, as well as of their song,
attracts the attention of the bird-catchers. Great numbers are captured
and exposed for sale in the markets, particularly in those of the city of
New York. They are caught in trap-cages, and feed and sing almost
immediately after. Many are carried to Europe, where the shipper is
often disappointed in his profits, as by the time they reach there, the
birds have changed their colours and seem all females.
Whilst the love season lasts, the males are more sprightly than ever.
Their song is mostly performed in the air, while they are rising and falling
in successive jerks, which are as amusing as the jingling of their vocal
essays. The variety of their colours is at this juncture very remarkable.
It is equally so, when, on rising from among the grass and flying
away from the observer, they display the pure black and white of their
wings and body.
The nest of the Rice Bunting is placed on the ground, without much
apparent care as to choice of situation, but always amongst the grass, or in
a field of wheat or barley. It is composed of coarse dried grasses and
leaves externally, and is lined with finer meadow grass. It appears large
for the size of the bird. The female lays from four to six eggs, of a
white colour, strongly tinged with dull blue, and irregularly spotted with
blackish. They raise only one brood in a season.
No sooner have the young left the nest, than they and their parents
associate with other families, so that by the end of July large flocks begin
to appear. They seem to come from every portion of the Eastern
States, and already resort to the borders of the rivers and estuaries to
roost. Their songs have ceased, the males have lost their gay livery, and
have assumed the yellow hue of the females and young, although the
latter are more firm in their tints than the old males, and the whole begin
to return southward, slowly and with a single clink, sufficient however
to give intimation of their passage, as they fly high in long files during
the whole day.
Now begin their devastations. They plunder every field, but are
shot in immense numbers. As they pass along the sea shores, and follow
the muddy edges of the rivers, covered at that season with full
grown reeds, whose tops are bent down with the weight of the ripe seeds,
they alight amongst them in countless multitudes, and afford abundant
practice to every gunner.
It is particularly towards sunset, and when the weather is fine, that
the sport of shooting Reed Birds is most profitable. They have then
fully satiated their appetite, and have collected closely for the purpose of
roosting. At the discharge of a gun, a flock sufficient to cover several
acres rises en masse, and performing various evolutions, densely packed,
and resembling a sultry cloud, passes over and near the sportsman, when he
lets fly, and finds occupation for some time in picking up the dozens which
he has brought down at a single shot. One would think that every gun
in the country has been put in requisition. Millions of these birds are destroyed,
and yet millions remain, for after all the havock that has been