THE LAZULI BUNTING. 165 



recalled by dull greenish blue of rump and upper tail-coverts and by skirtings of 

 wing- and tail-feathers; middle and greater coverts tipped with light bufify ; 

 underparts washed with bulTy, most strongly on chest and sides, fading to whitish 

 on belly and under tail-coverts. Young birds resemble the female but lack the 

 bluish-gray of rump and skirtings, and are usually more or less streaked below 

 on chest and sides. Length of adult male: 5.25-5.50 (133.3-139.7); wing 2.87 

 (y;^) : tail 2.08 (53) : bill .39 (9.9) ; tarsus .67 ( 17). Female smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — \\'arbler size; color pattern of male distinctive. — 

 female not so easy; in general distinguishable by a softness and uniformity of the 

 grayish brown. 



Nesting. — Xcst: a loosely constructed, bulky structure made chiefly of dead 

 grasses and strips of soft bark, with a heavy inner lining of hair ; placed about 

 three feet up in fork of weed, bush or sapling; measures, outside, 4'^ inches 

 across by 3 in depth, inside, 21/ wide by Ij-S deep. Eggs: 4, very pale blue 

 unmarked or, rarely, dotted with reddish brown. Av. size .76 x .56 ( 19.3 x 14.2). 

 Season : first week in June ; one brood. 



General Range. — Western United States from eastern border of Great 

 Plains to the Pacific (less common on Pacific slope) north to southern British 

 Columbia (chiefly east of the Cascades) ; south, in winter, to Cape St. Lucas and 

 the \'alley of Mexico. 



Range in Washington. — Common summer resident east of Cascade i\Ioun- 

 tains ; less common and of irregular distribution in the Puget Sound region ; 

 breeds in Cascades up to 3,000 feet. 



Migrations. — Spring: Yakima County ^lay 5, 1906; Chelan Alay 21, 1896. 



Authorities. — FFringilla aintrna, Auduhon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 64, 230; plates 

 398, 424. Cvaiwspiza atiuriia Baird. Baird, Rep Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 

 505. T. C&S. D'. Ra. D^ Ss'. Ss-'. J. B. E. 



Specimens.— U. of W. P'. Prov. B. E. 



ONE can scarcely believe his eyes as this jewel flashes from a thicket, 

 crosses a space of common air, and disappears again all in a trice. Either 

 there has been some optical illtision, or Nature has grown careless to fling 

 her turc|uoises about in such fashion. \\'e must investigate. L'^pon arrival, 

 somewhere about the loth of May, and before the return of his dun-colored 

 mate, the male Lazuli is (fuite conscious of his prominence in the landscape. 

 He avoids notice and goes bounding away if closely pressed; but love soon 

 makes him bold, and he will pursue the object of his affections into the very 

 thicket wdiere you stand. Then, wdiile the female lurks timidly within, he 

 motmts a spray and }'ields an otitlnirst of music, piercing and earnest, if not 

 too sw'eet. We see that his blue is deep azure, or turquoise, rather than that of 

 the lapis la:::iili fri>ni which he is named. The red of bis breast is nearly that 

 of the Robin's, while the pure wdiite of the remaining imderparts completes 

 a patriotic study in red, white, and blue. The female shows something of 

 the color pattern of her mate, with the important exception that dull brown 

 supplants the royal blue of head and back. After all. then, they are fitted 



