100 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



have white abdomens. The adult female, in the language of R. T. 

 Peterson (1947), is "the only small hrown Finch devoid of obvious striv- 

 ings, wingbars, or other distinctive marks.'' Emphasis should be 

 placed upon the word "obvious" because females are frequently finely- 

 streaked. In the fall and winter adult males are somewhat brownish 

 but show varying amounts of blue on the body, wings, or tail. Fall 

 immatures of both sexes closely resemble adult females, except that 

 they are more streaked below. Immatures, like adult females, may 

 be confused with female or immature painted buntings, but under 

 good light conditions the latter species is obviously pale yellow-green, 

 not brownish. Especially where their ranges overlap, female indigos 

 could be quite difficult to distinguish from female lazuli buntings, 

 though the latter have whitish wing-bars. 



Migration. — Average dates and earliest dates of spring arrival 

 are mentioned by Cooke (1911) for 93 localties. Migrants are, 

 apparently, frequently carried north by major storms far in advance 

 of their normal migration dates. Thus, Taber saw one on his lawn 

 in Ipswich, Mass., on Apr. 19, 1954. Earle R. Greene (1946) con- 

 siders the species an uncommon spring migrant along the Florida 

 Keys; he records only seven birds. F. M. Bennett (1909), however, 

 states that during the night of Apr. 14, 1909, "the region of the Florida 

 Keys was the scene of a violent thunderstorm of several hours' 

 duration, with lightning, heavy rain and high winds, blowing in squalls 

 from the southwest. The morning brought fine weather * * *." 

 Key West was fuU of land bhds of several species. This species was 

 present in vast numbers. On April 20 the indigo bunting ranked 

 second in numbers on Loggerhead Key on the Dry Tortuges. There 

 were stiU hundreds of males present, but only three females. None 

 of the birds sang. At least two dozen had lost all their tail feathers 

 and could fly only short distances like young birds. 



Speaking of the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi, T. D. Biu-leigh 

 (1944) says, "Numerous small flocks are seen in the spring and in the 

 fall both on the mainland and on the islands. * * * Although single 

 birds are observed from time to time, these buntings are most often 

 seen in flocks numbering from five to twelve individuals." 



In southwest Georgia, Herbert L. Stoddard, Sr. (MS.) reports that 

 "they appear in full plumage and song early in April (Sherwood, 

 April 6, 1937, April 8, 1947, April 9, 1943, April 11, 1948, April 13, 

 1944, April 16, 1934, and 1936) and become abundant by the latter 

 part of the month. Like the Blue Grosbeak, they fu-st flock in the 

 vicinity of ripening small grains, especially oats, which are widely 

 grown in the region." Farther north, in Ohio, Trautman (1940) 

 states that at the peak of the sprmg migration "30 to 90 bu-ds could 

 be seen daily, and it was obvious that there were several hundred 



