Length: 8 inches; 3 inches larger than the goldfinch.
Male: Forehead bright yellow; crown of head black; body olive-brown, with yellow on shoulders, rump, and belly; wings black and white; tail forked, black; bill heavy and yellowish.
Female: Brownish-gray, tinged with yellow underneath; wings black and white; forked tail black, tipped with white.
Range: Central North America. Breeds in western Alberta; winters in the interior of North America east of the Rocky Mts., more or less irregularly in southern Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, eastern Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New England, and Quebec.
A sight of this handsome bird is an event in the East, and arouses great interest in people who know how rare it is. Five were seen near Washington in early April of this year, and were hailed with enthusiasm. It is a common resident of our Northwest, though it wanders in flocks to the East occasionally.
It looks like a large goldfinch, though it is a less brilliant yellow, has larger patches of white on its wings and wears its dark cap back on its head, above its yellow forehead, instead of pulled down to its eyes and bill. It blends perfectly with the yellows and olive-browns of some of our western landscapes.
It feeds on berries, seeds, and insects. It becomes very tame.
THE BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK
Finch Family—Fringillidæ
The Black-headed Grosbeak has cinnamon-brown upper parts, breast, band about the neck, and rump; yellow belly, black head, wings, and tail; wings with two white bars and a white patch; tail with white tips. Female brownish-black and buff above; under parts tawny and yellow, streaked with dark; chin, sides of throat, and line over eye whitish.
“The Black-headed Grosbeak takes the place in the West of the rosebreast of the East, and, like it, is a fine songster. Like it, also, the blackhead readily resorts to orchards and gardens and is common in agricultural districts. The bird has a very powerful bill and easily crushes or cuts into the firmest fruit. It feeds upon cherries, apricots, and other fruits, and also does some damage to peas and beans, but it is so active a foe of certain horticultural pests that we can afford to overlook its faults.... It eats scale insects, cankerworms, codling moths, and many flower beetles, which do incalculable damage to cultivated flowers and to ripe fruit.”[110]
THE BOBOLINK
American Blackbird Family—Icteridæ
Length: A little over 7 inches.
Male: Spring or Breeding plumage: Crown, sides of head, throat, and other under parts black; back of head and neck light yellow; upper half of back black, streaked with creamy white; lower half of back, rump, and shoulders white; wings black, some of the feathers tipped with buff; tail black, the feathers pointed. Many birds have dark upper parts and light breasts; the bobolink wears his bright breast upon his back during the summer. In the fall, he resembles the female.
Female: Olive-brown and light yellow above, with black streaks; head with olive-brown and light yellow stripes; under parts pale yellow; wings and tail brown.
Notes: A tinkling ding-ding, not unlike the sound of a bell; likewise a chirp.
Song: A bubbling song, full of ecstasy and abandon. It is one of the most delightful songs of the later migrants.
Habitat: While in the North, the bobolink inhabits our fields and meadows, where he “swings on brier and weed.” In the fall, he frequents the rice-fields of our southern states on his way to South America, and does so much harm that he is dreaded and hated.
Range: North and South America. Breeds mainly from the plains of south-central Canada to Nevada, Utah, northern Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; winters in South America, to southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
