WESTERN BIRDS Bunting 



GENUS PASSERINA: PAINTED BUNT- 

 ING: NONPAREIL. 



Painted Bunting: Passerina ciris. 

 FAMILY— FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



Probably the brightest, most beautiful member of 

 this family, if a combination of gay colors make beauty, 

 is the Painted Bunting, or Nonpareil, a bird that is not 

 as widely distributed as we might wish, being found as 

 a summer resident from southern Kansas, central 

 Arkansas, northern Mississippi, and southeastern North 

 Carolina south to southeastern New Mexico, Texas, and 

 the Gulf Coast. It is casual in southern Arizona and 

 southern Illinois, wintering below the United States, 

 although it has occasionally wintered in southern Louis- 

 iana and central Florida. 



This gorgeous creature is about five and one-half 

 inches long and is a bright red on its entire under parts; 

 the head and back of neck are a purplish blue; back 

 yellowish-green; the rump, tail, and wings are a dull red, 

 the latter having a green patch. As in most cases where 

 the male is so bright, the bird that does the brooding is 

 modestly garbed. This female has the upper parts a 

 bright olive green, the under parts white washed with 

 greenish yellow ; tail brownish margined with olive green. 

 The young resemble the female. 



In its manner of building its nest of grasses, fibers, 

 and hair, and placing it in low bushes, it resembles the 

 others of this genus. 



The song reminds one of that of the Indigo bird, being, 

 perhaps, shorter, but is given with a clear ring that is 

 rather pleasing, especially when heard from a dry mesa 

 on a hot day. 



Mr. Maynard says of the birds that spend the winter 

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