FINCHES 



71 



INDIGO BUNTING 

 Passerina cyanea [ Liinunis) 



O. r. Xumlier 5gS >if t olor I 'late 86 



Other Names. — Indigo Bluebird : Indigo Painted 

 Bunting; Indigo Bird; Indigo Fincli : Blue Finch; 

 Blue Canary. 



General Descriprion. — Length, 5'4 inches. Male, 

 blue; female, olive-brownish above and dull white 

 below. Bill, small ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, about 

 ■U length of wing, slightly double rounded. 



Color. — .'\dult M.\le : General color, plain cerulean 

 blue, changing to bluish green in certain lights, the head 

 more purplish blue, this extending down the foreneck 

 and, usually, strongly tingeing the center under parts of 

 the body; lores and central (tnostly concealed) portion 

 of wing-coverts and inner wing-quills, black; second- 

 aries, primaries, primary coverts, dusky edged witli 

 greenish-blue; iris, brown. Adult Fem.^le: Above, 

 olive-brownish, lighter, and sometimes tinged with 

 greenish-gray on rump and upper tail-coverts; beneath, 

 dull whitish washed or tinged with olive-buffy on chest, 

 sides, and flanks, the chest distinctly streaked with 



dusky grayish-brown; wings and tail, dusky, the lesser 

 wing-coverts and edges of primaries and tail-feathers, 

 grayish-greenish, the tips of middle coverts brownish. 

 Young: Similar to adult female, but averaging rather 

 browner, especially on under parts, the back sometimes, 

 especially in first plumage, obsoletely streaked. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Generally in a low vibur- 

 num, witch-hazel, or maple saplings, or other sm.all 

 buslies, or in brambles on brushy hillsides or open 

 clearings near woods ; usually in a fork, within five feet 

 of ground; constructed of grasses, leaves, weed stalks, 

 strips of bark, plant fibers, lined with finer grasses and 

 hair. Egcs : 4. plain pale bluish white. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States and British 

 provinces ; north to Maine, Ontario, Minnesota, etc. 

 (casually to New Brunswick); south in winter to 

 Baliamas. Cuba, and through eastern Mexico and 

 Central .America to Panama ; west to eastern border of 

 (.ireat Plains, casually to eastern Colorado. 



The Indigo Bunting is anoLher bird with a dis- 

 tinct personality. No other bird attracts quite 

 the peculiar attention that this bird does. To 

 get acquainted with him one must be pre]iarcd 

 for surprises, and what they all are will not be 

 told here. 



The luale has such a peculiar color ; no bird 

 outside of the tropics has such a |>eculiar lilue 

 as the male Indigo Bird. It isn't an indigo color 

 but rather a deep ultramarine blue. Just as you 

 have made up your mind that that is the right 

 name of the color, you get the bird in a different 

 light and behold he is grayish blue, or azure-blue, 

 or maybe olive-blue. At least there is no con- 

 fusing him with any other bluish bird. The 

 female, however, is imc of the persistently con- 

 fusing birds to bird students. She has a charac- 

 teristic cliccp and twitches her tail from side to 

 side, but in coloring she is a plain little brown- 

 striped Sparrow. There isn't a single distinctive 

 featiu'e- that is apt to strike one's eye with a 

 surety that will allow even the most accurate 

 observer to determine on the instant the name 

 of the bird. Most observers see the male in the 

 neighborhood, and by a process of exclusion will 

 decide that the little brown bird is also an Indigo 

 Bunting. 



The male is one of the most shovvv of birds 

 and is not afraid to exhibit himself on a fence 

 rail, or tilting on the reeds, or dodging about in 

 a flock of English Sparrows, or up on a bush or 

 short tree within easy view. The female is sus- 



picious, secretive, silent, and sometiiues as hard 

 to see as a mouse in a thicket. 



Yet another surprise. The Indigo Bunting 

 seems so busy feeding and .going in and out of 



ving by R. I. Brasher 



INDIGO BUNTING 1 



plumage, 



thickets on some mysterious errands, that he 

 doesn't seem to have much time to sing, while 

 the other birds are doing their best in ^lay and 

 June. Wait till the other birds decrease the 

 volume and intensity of their singing in lulv, or 



