INDIGO BUNTING 81 



the "more open country, partially overgrown fields and slashings, 

 hedgerows, and underbrush bordering roads. * * * [There is a] 

 noticeable tendency for this species to be more numerous along the 

 creeks and rivers where the woods are open and there are suitable 

 thickets in which to nest." The male requires moderately high, open 

 perches from which he can sing conspicuously. In sharp contrast, 

 the female searches out the concealment of dense cover close to the 

 ground. 



Bond (1957), studying ecological distribution of breeding birds in 

 the upland forests of southern Wisconsin, noted that indigos occa- 

 sionally occur in the forest, but are generally a species of the more 

 open drier woods. Several factors appear to govern their breeding 

 distribution: decreasing canopy of the forest, decreasing moisture, 

 decreasing sapling density, and increasing shrub density. Odum 

 (1950) found that in the mountains of southwestern North Carolina 

 these buntings were less numerous in mesic shrublands than in xeric 

 shrublands where there were * 'numerous species of shrubs and small 

 trees which occur in dense thickets interspersed with more open places 

 dominated by grasses and herbs." Todd (1940), like Burleigh, be- 

 lieved that a habitat near water is preferred, even if the water is only 

 a small mountain stream. In western Pennsylvania, however, dry 

 hillside thickets and even orchards are often chosen. 



In Maryland, Stewart and Robbins (1958) noted indigos in 

 "hedgerows, wood margins, and orchards; also in brushy cut-over 

 areas of swamp forest and of rich, moist forest on the upland." In 

 north central Arizona, H. Bearing and M. Bearing (1946) found the 

 species in an apple orchard on one side of a road and in native trees 

 (pines, oaks, cypress, juniper) and shrubs along the road. The 

 shrubs included Ceanothus, scrub oak, sumac, and two species of 

 manzanita. Roberts (1932) found buntings in sparsely wooded 

 brush country, clearings grown up in second growth, and narrow 

 strips of timber bordering lakes and streams. In Louisiana, except 

 for the coastal areas, Lowery (1955) recorded them in clearings at 

 the edges of woods and along highway and railroad rights of way. 



As it thrives in areas where the forest has been cleared and is at 

 least partially reverting to its original state, the indigo bunting would 

 be expected to increase in parts of its range where such conditions 

 develop. In north central Florida, for example, agricultural practices 

 have radically changed the landscape over the past few decades, con- 

 verting much of the once extensive pine forests, hammocks, and 

 swamplands to pasturelands. As some of the pastures are abandoned 

 and undergo processes of ecological succession, the stage is set for 

 their occupancy by these buntings. Before 1964 the species was 

 rarely seen in the environs of Gainesville, but in that year breeding 



