THE INDIGO-BIRD OR INDIGO BUNTING 



where he performs his good office of caterpillar-, canker 

 worm-, and grasshopper-hunting, varying his diet with an 

 abundance of weed seeds. 



The indigo-bird, the scarlet tanager, the goldfinch-, and 

 the Baltimore oriole are our most brilliant summer birds. 

 Thoreau, in his "Notes on New England Birds" makes 

 the following comment: 



"This is a splendid and marked bird, high-colored as 

 is the tanager, looking strange in this latitude. Glowing 

 indigo. It flits from the top of one bush to another, 

 chirping as if anxious. Wilson says it sings, not like 

 most other birds in the morning and evening chiefly, but 

 also in the middle of the day. In this I notice it is like 

 the tanager, the other fiery-plumaged bird. They seem 

 to love the heat." 



During August, the songs of the indigo-bird and red- 

 eyed vireo may be heard along wooded roadsides, and 

 are especially welcome because most birds are silent at 

 that time. 



[197] 



