152 INDIGO BUNTING. 



Some birds, such as the Red-ejed Yireo, can sing just 

 as well while hunting food as at any other time ; in fact, 

 I do not remember ever seeing a Ked-eye pause long 

 in its search for insects — song and search go on together. 

 But with the Chewink singing is a serious matter, not to 

 be associated with the material question of food ; so, when 

 singing, he abandons the dead leaves he has been tossing 

 about so vigorously, and, mounting a perch, becomes an 

 inspired if not gifted musician. Sweet hird^ sing, a friend 

 writes it, the " sing" being higher, sustained, and vibrant. 

 To this there is often a refrain which suggests an an- 

 swering, tremulous I^ll try. 



Matins or vespers over, the Chewink returns to 

 the ground and resumes his occupation of scratching 

 among the leaves for breakfast or supper, as the case 

 may be. 



The Chewink' s nest is placed on the ground, often in 

 dried grass, beneath a tangle of running ^dld blackberry. 

 The eggs, four or five in number, are white, -^lelj and 

 evenly speckled with reddish brown. 



There are three birds who sing not only through the 

 heat of midsummer but are undaunted by the warmth of 

 Indigo Bunting, ^ midday sun. They are the Wood 

 Fasserina cyanea. Pcwce, the Rcd-eyed Yirco, and the In- 

 nate Lxxxiii. digo-bird or Bunting. The Pewee and 

 Yireo, singing dreamily from the shady depths of a tree, 

 carry the air to the hummed accompaniment of insects ; 

 but the Bunting, mounting to an upper branch, gives 

 voice to a tinkling warble, more in keeping with the 

 freshness of early morning than the languor of noon. 

 July, July, summer -summer'^ s here; morning, noontide, 

 evening, list to me, he sings so rapidly that human tongue 

 can scarce enumerate the words fast enough to keep pace 

 with him. The Indigo-bird is in song when he comes to 

 us from the South early in May, but it is not until other 



