INDIGO BUNTING 87 



with brown * * *," and Barrows (1912) found in Michigan "perhaps 

 one nest in a hundred [with] * * * one or two eggs which have small 

 specks of brown on the larger ends." Sometimes eggs are nearly pure 

 white. A. D. DuBois, writing Mr. Bent about a nest in Illinois 

 which contained four eggs on June 2, 1908, says, "The yolks in these 

 eggs showed through the shells, neutralizing the bluish tint to such 

 an extent that the eggs appeared quite white in the nest." 



The measurements of 50 eggs average 18.7 by 13.7 millimeters; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 21.3 by 14.2, 19.1 by 15.0, 

 16.7 by 12.7, and 17.8 by 11.7 millimeters. 



Incubation. — The incubation period is recorded by Roberts (1932), 

 Allen (1939), and Forbush {Jide Parmelee, 1959) as 12 days, and by 

 Sprunt and Chamberlain (1949) as 12-13 days. Both Bradley (1948) 

 and Allen (1939) agree that incubation is performed by the female 

 alone, but Forbush claims that both sexes incubate and attend the 

 nestlings. 



Young. — Extreme nestling dates are available for a few regions: 

 Maryland, June 5-August 30 ; Alabama, June 3-August 28, Alexander 

 Wetmore (1909) mentions taking a young bird just out of the nest 

 Sept. 18, 1908, and comments on such unusually late nesting. Bradley 

 (1948) states that 8- and 9-day old birds fledge as very weak flyers and 

 remain at or close to the ground. Burns (1921) gives 9 days for the 

 nestling time, Forbush (1929), 10-13 days, and Allen (1939) gives 10 

 days. A. L. Goodrich, Jr. (1945) says that the male "joins his mate in 

 foraging for the clamorous youngsters until they become able to fend 

 for themselves," and G. M. Sutton (MS.) says "the male may take 

 complete charge" while the female renests. The males, however, 

 apparently never brood the young birds. In fact, Dr. Sutton writes: 

 "I have never seen a male take food to, or change places with, a brooding 

 female, and I have never flushed a male directly from the nest." Mrs. 

 Speirs writes that in the case of nestlings she watched, the female 

 seemed to do most, if not all, of the feeding. Spiders of one kind or 

 another comprised the principal diet fed the young. Other foods con- 

 sisted of a bee, a few mayflies, a chrysalis, a butterfly, a winged insect, 

 a caterpillar, a daddy longlegs, and a buff-colored moth which was 

 stuffed, wings and all, into the mouth of a fledgling. The female re- 

 moved a large number of fecal sacs. 



H. Dearing and M. Dearing (1946) watched young birds in Arizona, 

 near a benchmark elevation of 4,875 feet. Commenting that the adult 

 male bird had first been seen on July 4, the Dearings say: 



The female Indigo Bunting was not seen until July 23, when the young came off 

 the nest. The nest was not seen but the fuzzy brownish fledglings appeared that 

 morning, and both parents were much excited about them. The male hopped ex- 

 citedly about one of the fledglings on a low branch of a walnut tree near us. The 



