The Indigo Bunting {Passerina cyanea) 

 By W. Leon Dawson 

 Also Called Indigo-Bird 



Length : About 5'/- inches. 



The male is easily identified by the rich blue color, with black wings and 

 tail. The female is warm brown. 



Range: I'.reeds from eastern North Dakota, central Minnesota, northwestern 

 Michigan, southern Ontario and southern Xew Brunswick to central Te.xas, 

 southern Louisiana, central Alabama and central Georgia : winters from southern 

 Me.xico to Panama. 



The Indigo-Rird is the brightest colored sparrow that visits the north, but 

 one can hardly believe that the sprightly dandy, clad in his rich blue suit, is the 

 mate of the inconspicuous brown bird that seeks assiduously to conceal herself in 

 the leafy cover, as though a bit ashamed of the contrast between her working 

 suit and the holiday garb of her spouse. The indigo is a freeiuenter of sprout 

 land, of brushy thickets and of open woodland, and the male is fond of singing 

 his cheerful lay from the topmost twig of a tall shrub or tree, as though chal- 

 lenging the world to produce his equal, l-'or such a dainty bird, the nest is a 

 singularly inartistic structure and very carelessly liuilt. It is placed in the crotch 

 of some low leafy bush and is not at all difficult to find. 



The fine feathers of the male are not the only claim of the Indigo-llird to 

 our interest. Its food consi.sts largely of weed seed, but it eats many insects, 

 including a goodly proportion of grasshoppers and caterpillars. 



To a casual observer the male and female Indigo-Rirds appear to li\e in 

 separate spheres and to have \ery little in common. This is partly because the 

 female is such a plain-looking "brown bird" that it requires the closest scrutiny 

 to discover upon her shoulders faint traces of the royal blue which marks her 

 lord. Then, again, she is a most prosaic creature, skulking about through thickets 

 and briar patches or fussing with the children, while her handsome mate spends 

 his time in the tree-tops singing with his little might and main. As a result, 

 the Indigo-bird projjer is one of the most familiar features of wood's edge and 

 wayside, while the Indigo-bird, by courtesy — or shall we say h\ marriage? — is 

 one of the least known of sparrows. 



The singing iiird makes no attemjit at concealment, but seeks the most 

 prominent position possible on telegraph wire or tree-top, and repeats at frequent 

 intervals a pierciiig but not very melodious warble, which rises and falls in 

 sharp cadences, and (inishes with a hasty jumble of unfinished notes, as though 

 the singer were out of breath. This song is kejit up through the greater part 

 of the day, and the singer is at his very best during the warm months of July 

 and August. At this time his is often the only voice which relieves the monotony 

 of a sultry day, and his efiforts have won warm admiration on this account. Now 

 and then the bird dives down to earth to attend to some domestic duty, but 

 he is back again presently- "climbing a golden staircase of song" as he flits 



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