FRINGILLID.T: THE FINCHES. 301 



This exquisite little bird, so inappropriately named Indigo Bird 

 for the blue color of the male is not at all like the color of 

 indigo, but on the contrary is the richest cerulean-blue, shading 

 into ultramarine, is one of our most abundant and most generally 

 distributed summer residents. It is an associate of the Field Spar- 

 row, Maryland Yellow-throat, Yellow-breasted Chat, and other birds 

 which frequent thickets about the borders of fields, and its sprightly 

 and vigorous, though somewhat harsh song is heard throughout the 

 sultry days of summer, as the singer occupies a prominent position 

 on the summit of a tree, or, as is frequently the case, on a tele- 

 graph wire along a railroad. 



Passerina ciris (Linn.) 



PAINTED BUNTING. 



Popular synonyms. Painted Finch ; Nonpareil. 



Emberiza ciris LINN. S. N. eel. 10, i, 1758. 177; ed. 12, i, 1700,313. 

 Fringilla ciris WILS. Am. Orn. iii, 1811, 68,pl. 24, figs. 1,2. Aui>. Orn. Biog. i, 1832, 279; 



v, 517, pi. 53. 

 Passerina ciris VIEILL. Gal. Ois. i, 1824, 81. pi. 66. BIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 



251. COUES, 2d Check List, 1882, No. 292. 

 Spiza ciris AUD. Synop. 1839,108; B. Am. iii, 1841, 93, pi. 109. 



Cyanospiza ciris BAIKD.B. N. Am. 1858,503; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 384. COUES, Key, 

 1872, 149; Check List -1874, No. 190. B. B. K. Hist. N. Am. B. ii, 1874, 87, pi. 29. 

 figs. 7,8. 



HAB. Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, north to South Carolina and southern 

 Illinois, west to Arizona; south in winter to Panama. 



"Sp. CHAE. Male. Head and neck all around ultramarine blue, excepting a narrow 

 stripe from the chin to the breast, which, with the under parts generally, the eyelids, and 

 the rump (which is tinged with purplish), are vermilion-red. Edges of chin.loralregion, 

 greater wing-coverts, inner tertiary, and interscapular region, green; the middle of the 

 latter glossed with yellow. Tail-feathers, lesser wing-coverts, nnd outer webs ot quills, 

 purplish blue. Length about 5.50 inches ; wing, 2.70. 



"Female. Clear dark green above; yellowish beneath. Young, like female. 



"Tail very slightly emarginated and rounded ; second, third, and 

 fourth quills equal; first rather shorter than the fifth. 



"The female is readily distinguishable from that of P. cyanea by 

 the green instead of the dull brown of the back, and the yellow of 

 the under parts." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



The plumage of the Nonpareil, although brilliant, can scarcely be 

 called beautiful, since there is an entire lack of harmony in his 

 tints. The name Painted Bunting is therefore peculiarly appropriate, 



