, spotted with black; upper mandible brown, the
lower bluish-white; iris, hazel; legs and feet, large, pale
flesh-colour. In the young bird the color is much fainter than in the
adult.

[Illustration: RICE BUNTING. (_Emberiza Oryzivora._ WILSON.)]

This is the Rice and Reed-Bird of Pennsylvania and the Southern
States, and the Boblink of New York and New England. He is of little
size, but of great consequence, hailed with pleasure by the sportsman
and the epicure, and dreaded as worse than a locust by the careful
planter. Wilson has treated of him fully, and from his eloquent
account we shall endeavor to select a few points in his history worthy
of notice. According to his best biographer, then, three good
qualities recommend him, particularly as these three are rarely found
in the same individual--his plumage is beautiful, his song highly
musical, and his flesh excellent. To these he added the immense range
of his migrations, and the havoc he commits. The winter residence of
this species is from Mexico to the Amazon, from whence they issue in
great hosts every spring. In the whole United States, north of
Pennsylvania, they remain during the summer, raising their progeny;
and as soon as the young are able to fly they collect together in
great multitudes, and pour down on the oat-fields of New England.
During the breeding season, they are dispersed over the country; but
as soon as the young are able to fly, they collect together in great
multitudes, like a torrent, depriving the proprietors of a good tithe
of their harvest, but in return often supply his table with a very
delicious dish. From all parts of the north and western regions they
direct their course toward the south, and about the middle of August,
revisit Pennsylvania, on their route to winter quarters. For several
days they seem to confine themselves to the fields and uplands; but as
soon as the seeds of the reed are ripe, they resort to the shores of
the Delaware and Schuylkill in multitudes; and these places, during
the remainder of their stay, appear to be their grand rendezvous. The
reeds, or wild oats, furnish them with such abundance of nutritious
food, that in a short time they become extremely fat, and are supposed
by some of our epicures to be equal to the famous Ortolans of Europe.
Their note at this season is a single chuck, and is heard overhead,
with little intermission from morning till night. These are halcyon
days for our gunners of all desc