FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 375 



599. Cyanospiza amoena (Say). Lazuli Bunting. 



Adult male. — Upper parta bright turquoise blue, changing- ^o greenish 

 blue, darker and duller on middle of back ; wings with two white bars ; 

 breast and sumetimes sides brownish: belly white. Adult female : upper 

 parts grayish brown, tinged with blue on rump ; liack sometimes streaked ; 

 wing- bars dingy ; anterior lower parts pale buffy, deeper on chest, fading 

 to white on belly and lower tail coverts. Young : like female, but with- 

 out blue tinge on rump, and chest and sides usually streaked. Male : 

 length (skins) .•j.Ul-5.,54, wing 2.78-8.01, tail 2.07-2.27, bill .30-.41. Fe- 

 male: length (skins) 4.0 1 -.■).;-]8, wing 2.50-2.8:'., tail 2.00-2..31, bill .;^(K41. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and Upper .Sonoran zones of the 

 western United States from Kansas to California ; and from British 

 Columbia to Arizona and New Mexico ; migrates to Lower California and 

 the Valley of Mexico. 



Nest. — Usually near water in weeds, willows, manzanitas, and other 

 bushes. Fggs : o or 4, plain bluish white, or pale greenish blue. 



The natural home of the blue-coated, brown-breasted lazuli is in 

 the chaparral of warm valleys like those of southern California or in 

 village shrubbery in climates like that of the Salt Lake plain, but like 

 the green-tailed towhee it follow^s the chaparral to the higher levels, 

 and though nominally a Transition and Upper Souoran zone bird, is 

 sometiiUes found in willows of the Canadian zone. In the Sierra 

 above Donner the middle of July we found it as high as 7900 feet, 

 singing gayly in a patch of willows in a tiny mountain meadow 

 surrounded b}^ firs and overhung by snowbanks ; and one of the 

 hardy little fellows has even been reported from Fremont Pass. 



The song of the lazuli is of the bright, musical finch type, and like 

 that of Oreospisa and Chondestes has a marked burr. The call-note 

 is an emphatic quit' or sometimes chuck. 



Though less demonstrative than the house finch, the lazuli some- 

 times spreads his blue feathers before his mate in pretty gallantry ; 

 and as a parent, though not boldly aggressive, he is w^atchful and 

 devoted, singing on his way to the nest even with a bill full of 

 insects. 



600. Cyanospiza versicolor (/>*o»r//>.). VARiKn Bunting. 



Upjx'r mandil)h' curved. Adult male in summer: forehead and rump 

 brigiit bluish purple, or jjurplish blue ; back of neck bright red, changing 

 to i)urplish red on middle of back ; under parts plum red fading to plum 

 purple on l)elly. Adult female in summer: uj)])er parts brownish, tinged 

 with olive and sometimes with blui.sh. becoming dull bluish ou rump; 

 wings and tail with gr.iy or blue edgings; under jvirts dull whitish and 

 brown. Adult male in n-inter : c(»lor of crown, back, and sc.ipulars partly 

 obscured by gniyish brown tijjs to fcathei-s; under parts with butfy tips. 

 Adult female in ivinter : browner. Young: brown; wing witli buffy 

 bands ; under parts wliitl.sh mediallv, brown on chest and sides. Male : 

 length (skins) 4..V)-.-,.4r.. wing 2.40- "2.80. tail 1.07-2.20. bill .;!7-.44. Fe- 

 male: length (skins) 4.44-.").;'.S, wing 2.:;0-2..').'). tail l.0;',-2.10. l)ill .:m-.41. 



Distribution. — Froni southern Arizona and the valley of the Lower 

 Mio (jrande in Texas south t<> Lower Califoniia :ind (iuatem.ila. 



