is wings and tail, and uttered his well-known call,
"Conk-err-ee!" before he made any reply.

"People often compliment me on my taste in colors," he said at last.
"And for year-round wear I do think _my_ suit is about as good as
anybody could ask for. But you know yourself that during the first half
of the summer Bobby Bobolink makes a cheerful sight, when his black and
white and buff back flashes above the meadow."

And Mr. Meadowlark couldn't deny it; for he knew that it was true.

II

THE LATEST ARRIVAL

BOBBY BOBOLINK did not reach Pleasant Valley in time to spend May Day
with his old friends of the summer before. And although everybody was
disappointed not to see him--and hear him--the feathered folk tried to
be cheerful and told one another that Bobby ought to arrive almost any
day.

"He always finds it hard to leave the rice fields in the South," Mr.
Red-winged Blackbird observed with a knowing wink at old Mr. Crow,
as the two stopped for a chat on the morning after May Day. "It's
rice-planting time in the South," Mr. Red-winged Blackbird explained.
"Somewhat like corn-planting time here!" And he winked once more.

Although Mr. Crow was in the habit of scratching up Farmer Green's
newly-planted corn, just as Bobby Bobolink uncovered the freshly-sown
rice in the South, Mr. Crow never cared to have any of his neighbors
even hint that he did such a thing. And now he glared at Mr. Red-winged
Blackbird, who continued to wink at him.

"Is there something in your eye?" Mr. Crow inquired in his coldest
manner.

Mr. Red-winged Blackbird had no wish to make Mr. Crow angry. So he
stopped winking at once.

"When you see your friend Bobby Bobolink you'd better tell him to leave
the corn strictly alone," Mr. Crow remarked. "Farmer Green expects to
begin planting in about three weeks. And he counts on me to watch the
field for him. If I catch Bobby Bobolink there he'll wish he had stayed
in the rice fields, down South."

Mr. Red-winged Blackbird smiled. And he told old Mr. Crow not to worry.

"Bobby Bobolink won't touch the corn," he said. "During the first half
of the summer he lives on such things as caterpillars and grasshoppers,
with a bit of grass-seed now and then."

Old Mr. Crow replied that he was glad to know that.

"He's wise to leave the corn alone," he added. "If Farmer Green was on
the lookout for him--with a gun handy--Bobby Bobolink wouldn't act so
care-free as he generally does. He woul