EASTERN PAINTED BUNTING 153 



(Griscom, 1932) found this bird abundant in January and Feb- 

 ruary in the arid valley of the Rio Negro at Sacapulas in northern 

 Guatemala, but I have never anywhere known it to be common. 

 In parts of Central America that I have visited, I have met at most 

 scattered individuals of the painted bunting; it has always appeared 

 to be rarer than the indigo bunting, which winters in the same local- 

 ities. The seeming rareness of painted buntings may be caused in 

 part by the dense cover they haunt, in riverside brakes of tall wild 

 cane, high grass, pastures overgrown with bushes and weeds, and 

 similar low, crowded vegetation. Adult males, of course, wear their 

 variegated nuptial attire throughout the year; and as early as mid- 

 March I have seen males and females keeping company as though 

 mated. I have never heard the painted bunting sing in Central 

 America. My latest spring record is of a female seen near Los Amates 

 in the Motagua Valley of Guatemala on April 18, 1932." 



Distribution 



Range. — Missom-i, Tennessee, and North Carolina to Veracruz, 

 Yucatan, and Cuba. 



Breeding range. — The eastern painted bunting breeds from southern 

 Missouri, southwestern Tennessee (Memphis), southern Alabama 

 (Mobile), central South Carolina (Columbia), and southeastern North 

 Carolina (Beaufort) south to southeastern Texas (Houston), southern 

 Louisiana (Calcasieu Lake, Pass a Loutre), southern Mississippi 

 (Biloxi), and central Florida (Punta Rasa, New Smyrna). 



Winter range. — Winters from southern Louisiana (Cameron, New 

 Orleans), central Florida (Seven Oaks, Fort Pierce), and the northern 

 Bahamas (Grand Bahama, Berry Islands, New Providence) south to 

 southern Veracruz (Tres Zapotes), Yucatan (Chichen Itza), Quintana 

 Roo (Cozumel Island), and Cuba; casually north to South Carolina 

 (Winnsboro), North Carolina (Fayette ville) , New Jersey (Haddon- 

 field), and Massachusetts (Falmouth). 



Casual records. — Casual north to the District of Columbia, Alary- 

 land, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. 



Migration. — Early dates of sprmg arrival are: Nayarit — Tres 

 Marias Islands, April 26. Florida — northern peninsula, March 9; 

 southern peninusla, March 21. Alabama — Dauphm Island, March 

 26. Georgia — Savannah, April 7 (average, April 14). South Caro- 

 lina — March 21; median of 10 years at Charleston, April 15. North 

 Carolina — Brunswick County, May 2. Maryland — Laurel, May 1. 

 New Jersey — Cape May, May 4. New York — Easthampton, May 

 13. Louisiana — New Orleans, March 11; Baton Rouge, April 6. 

 Mississippi — Gulfport, April 8; Rosedale, April 23. Ai-kansas — Little 



