FAM. XIII. FINCHES, SPARRO]VS, ETC. 



139 



lores mainly black. The female is grayish-brown above and 

 creamy-buff below, sometimes with dull-blue on head and tail ; 

 the tail and wings are blackish-brown, with the wing coverts 

 tijjped with reddish-buff. This is a quiet, retiring bird of the 

 thickets and Aveeds, of meadows and old clearings. The war- 

 bling notes of its song are said to be very beautiful, though 

 weak. 



Length, 7 ; wing, 3^ (3|-3|) ; tail, 2| ; tarsus, | ; cuhnen, j. United 

 States from central Nebraska eastward ; breeding from the Gulf to south- 

 ern New Jersey, and wintering from southern Mexico to Central America. 

 Casual to New England. 



49. Indigo Bunting (598. Passerlna cytlnea). — A small, 

 bright, blue bird, with no plain show of any other color any- 

 where, though the wing and tail feathers have much black on 

 the hidden portions. Tlie female is unstreaked grayish-brown, 

 lighter below, with blackish wings and tail, having a gloss of 

 bluish. The under 



side of the bill al- 

 most invariably has a 

 stripe of blackish. 

 This beautiful bird 

 is a common inhabit- 

 ant of old bushy pas- 

 tui-es. (Indigo Bird.) 



Length, 5\ ; wing, 2| 

 (2|-2|) ; tail'i 2| ; tarsus, 

 f ; cuhnen, |. United 

 States from Kansas east- 

 ward ; breeding from the 

 Gulf to southern Canada, 



and wintering in Central America. The Lazuli Bunting (599. Passerina 

 amcena), found from the Plains to the Pacific, is a similar bird, but the 

 male has a white belly, white wing bars, and brown breast, and the female 

 has brownish fore parts, and the rump and tail with much blue, and two 

 whitish wing bars. Size a little greater. 



50. Painted Bunting (601. Passe7-)na ciris). — A brilliantly 

 colored small bird of southern states, with blue head, green 

 back, red riunp, brown wings and tail, and bright red nnder 



Indigo Bunting 



