LAND BIRDS. 637 



in a high key, then repeated in a shghtly lower key, growing feebler as the 

 song ends. It resembles the syllables swee-swee-swee, swee-swee (slightly 

 lower), sweet-sweet-sweet, swe-swe (slightly lower), swee, swee, swee." 

 This does not suggest the song satisfactorily to the writer, but it is a difficult 

 song to describe. It is not unlike part of the song of the Goldfinch, which 

 in turn suggests some canary songs, but that of the Indigo Bird has a ringing, 

 rollicking quality which is entirely its own. When heard at a distance 

 it might'be mistaken for that of several other songsters, but when close at 

 hand it is not to be confounded with anything else. 



The food consists mainly of seeds and berries, but a liberal quantity of 

 insects is added and those often of the most injurious kind. In his study 

 of an orchard infested with canker-worms, Prof. S. A. Forbes, of Champaign, 

 111., found that the Indigo Birds were eating the canker-worms more freely 

 than was their usual habit, not less than 78 percent of the food in some 

 stomachs consisting of these span-worms, and only 3 percent of seeds. 

 He also found that they ate freely caterpillars, click-beetles, snout-beetles, 

 chafers, and bugs of various kinds. Since the bird does absolutely no harm 

 to the farmer or horticulturist, and feeds so largely upon injurious insects, 

 it must be regarded as one of our most valuable species and should be 

 carefully protected. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION, 



Adult male: Entire plumage, except wings and tail, rich deep blue, darkest (ultramarine) 

 on head, neck and breast, lighter (sky-blue or turquoise-blue^i on back and sides; wings and 

 tail mainly blackish, but with outer webs so glossed with blue that when folded they show 

 no other color; bill blackish above, lighter below, with a sharp black streak along the keel 

 of the lower mandible; iris brown. Spring males often show whitish patches on the vmder 

 parts, or buffy feathers scattered here and there, a proof that many individuals do not 

 attain full plumage until more than a year old. Aclult female : Upper parts nearly uniform 

 brown, with faint indications of darker streaks, or none; under parts buffy brown, the throat 

 and belly lightest (sometimes almost white), the breast and sides darkest and more or less 

 distinctly streaked with dusky; wings and tail grajash brown, with little trace of light wing- 

 bars, but the tertiaries usually edged with the light brown of tl)e back; primaries and tail- 

 feathers usually faintly glossed with blue on their outer webs. Young birds resemble the 

 adult female, but are somewhat darker, more tliickly streaked below, and have no bluish 

 edgings on wing and tail-feathers. 



Length 4.75 to 5.75 inches; wing 2.60 to 2.80; tail 2.20 to 2.50. 



Note. — For an account of the Varied Bunting or Western Nonj^ariel, doubtfully accredited 

 to Michigan, see Appendix. 



243. Black-throated Bunting. Spiza americana {Gmel). (604) 



Synonyms: Dickcissel, Little Meatlowlark. — Enibcriza americana, Gmelin, 1789, Wils., 

 Nutt., Aud. — Euspiza americana, Bonap., 1S.38, and most American writers until 1880. 

 — Spiza americana, Ridgvv., 1880, A. O. U. Check-list, 1886, and all recent authors. 



I\Iale a little larger than an English Sparrow, with white chin, black throat, 

 yellow breast, and chestnut shoulders. The female is smaller and lacks 

 the black throat patch and brown shoulders. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains, breeding 

 from Texas north to Massachusetts, New York, southern Ontario, Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota and North Dakota; south in winter through Central America 

 to northern South America; southwest in migration to Arizona. Now rare 

 or entirely absent east of the Alleghanies. 



The Black-throated Bunting is one of our most interesting birds, not alone 

 on account of its beauty, l)ut because it varies greatly in numliers in different 



