Indigo Bunting 403 



Genus PASSERINA. 



Small Finches — wing under 3 — with rather small acute and pointed 

 bills, with the lower mandible deeper than the upper and the culmen 

 ridged ; nostrils exposed ; wings moderately long and pointed, the 

 ninth primary nearly the longest (in P. amoena), or rounded with the 

 seventh and eighth the longest (in P. cyanea) ; tail moderate, exceeding 

 •75 in the wing, more or less even ; sexes unlike, males brilUantly 

 coloured with blue and other bright colours, females mostly plain 

 brown. 



This genus, containing, according to Ridgway, six species, ranges 

 over the temperate and tropical portions of North America as far south 

 as Panama. 



A. Blue above and below. C. cyeinea, S P- 403. 



B. Blue above, abdomen white, a red band on chest. 



C. amoena, S P- 404. 



C. Brown above. 



a. Rump brown like the back, but slightly washed with greenish. 



C. cyanea, ? p. 403. 



b. Rump dull slaty-blue. C. amoena, ? p. 404. 



Indigo Bunting. Passerina cyanea. 



A.O.U. Checkhst no 598 — Colorado Records — Ridgway 73, p. 176 ; 

 Cooke 97, pp. 109, 216 ; Burnett 00, p. 90 ; Felger 02, p. 294 ; H. G. 

 Smith 08, p. 188. 



Description. — Male — General colour azm-e blue, rather more ultra- 

 marine blue on the head ; wings and tail dusky, edged with blue, the 

 coverts and tertials almost black in the centre ; iris brown, upper 

 mandible black, lower greyish-blue with a narrow line of black from 

 angle to tip, legs dasky. Length 4-75 ; whig 2-55 ; tail 1-90 ; cuhnen 

 •40 ; tarsus -62. 



The female is dark tawny-brown above with a trace of greenish wash 

 on the rmnp ; below dull white washed with buffy on the chest and more 

 strongly on the sides and flanks, where there are traces of dusky streaks 

 — wing 2-50. The yomig male is at first like the female and does not 

 acquire the full adult blue livery for two or even three years. 



Distribution. — Breeding throughout eastern North America, from 

 Minnesota and Ontario southwards ; south in winter to Bahamas 

 and Cuba, and tlirough eastern Mexico to Veragua in Colombia. 



In Colorado the Indigo Bunting is hardly more than a straggler ; 

 the following are the recorded instances of its occurrence : El Paso 

 CO. May 18th, 1872 (Aiken), Fort Collins, several seen one secured, May, 

 1900, by W. Link (Cooke) ; Clear Creek near Denver observed May 

 7th, 1901 (Felger) ; Hugo, Lincohi co., June 9th (H. G. Smith). 



CO 2 



