INDIGO BUNTING 93 



nearby willows in company with Song Sparrows and Chipping Spar- 

 rows. However, I did not see these sparrows feeding on bluejoint. 

 When I left Pint Abino on September 22, buntings were present in 

 about the same numbers as during the previous few weeks, and blue- 

 joint still formed the major part of their diet." 



Frederick V. Hebard wrote Mr. Bent that on Oct. 12, 1945, he 

 saw at least a hundred of these birds in southern Georgia feeding in a 

 field well studded with crotolaria, and that about a year later, Oct. 16, 

 1946, a vastly larger number was there. 



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

 "the abundance of insect life in the vetches and Crimson Clover, 

 coupled with the mixed small grains grown for the game, provides 

 an abundance of preferred food for the breeding Indigos and their 

 young." 



Other foods are mentioned under the section entitled Winter. 



Behavior. — Among the conspicuous behavioral traits of male indigos 

 is their strong territorial defense. This is manifest, first of all, by 

 their persistent singing from tall perches as noted under Voice. Todd 

 (1940) states that the male "seeks some prominent perch, such as an 

 electric wire or a high branch of a dead tree — often the topmost 

 one * * *." Then, too, males pursue intruding males with verve 

 as noted by Van Hoose (1955). In this instance a male, probably 

 breeding at San Marcos, Coahuila, Mexico, was seen chasing another 

 male on May 5, 1954; the female followed the first of these males. 

 Furthermore, territorial male indigos have been seen defending their 

 territories by song and pursuit against male lazuli buntings (Wells, 

 1958). Thus, the species is characterized by having inter- and intra- 

 specific territorial defense. 



W. E. C. Todd (1940), while driving through a woodland, "saw 

 a pair of indigo buntings in the middle of the road a short distance 

 ahead, the male spreading his wings and dancing about the female. 

 They paid no attention to the car, and, as we were too close to do more 

 than slow down, the car passed right over them. When we looked 

 back they were still in the same place and unhurt." 



Hervey Brackbill wrote Mr. Bent as foUows: "Once a male be- 

 haved protectively toward a very young fledgling that I had picked 

 up just as it was about to be fed a caterpillar. While I was holdmg 

 the young bhd, the parent flew about wildly within as little as 3 feet 

 of me, uttering a variety of notes — chip, tit, and quit were among 

 them — sometimes in long strings. Then, after I had put the fledgling 

 back on the ground, the male clearly tried to draw it away from me 

 by flying close to it and then off in one dkection or another. Finally 

 its offspring did flutter after it into some undergrowth." 



