FEMALE INDIGO FINCH. 277 



more properly transient irregular visitors, than even winter residents. 

 They are seldom observed elsewhere than in pine swamps and forests, 

 feeding almost exclusively on the seeds of these trees, together with a 

 few berries. All the specimens I obtained had their crops filled to 

 excess entirely with the small seeds of Pinus inops. They kept in flocks 

 of from twenty to fifty, when alarmed suddenly taking wing all at once, 

 and after a little manoeuvering in the air, generally alighting again 

 nearly on the same pines whence they had set out, or adorning the 

 naked branches of some distant, high, and insulated tree. In the coun- 

 tries where they pass the summer, they build their nest on the limb of 

 a pine, towards the centre ; it is composed of grasses and earth, and 

 lined internally with feathers. The female lays five eggs, which are 

 white, spotted with yellowish. The young leave their nest in June, 

 and are soon able to join the parents in their autumnal migration. 



In the northern countries, where these birds are very numerous, 

 when a deep snow has covered the ground they appear to lose all sense 

 of danger, and by spreading some favorite food, may be knocked down 

 with sticks or even caught by hand while busily engaged in feeding. 

 Their manners are in other respects very similar to those of the common 

 Crossbill, as described by Wilson, and they are said also to partake of 

 the fondness for saline substances so remarkable in that species. 



FRINGILLA CYANEA. 



FEMALE INDIGO FINCH.* 



[Plate XV. Fig. 4.j 



Tanagra cyanea, Linn. Syst. i., p. 315, Sp. 6, adult Male in full plumage. — Emheiiza 

 cyanea, Gmel. Syst. i., p. 876, Sp. 54. Lath. Ind. p. 415, Sp. GO. — Ember iza 

 cyanella, Sp.^rm. Mas. Carls, ii., PI. 42, 4.3. Gmel. Syst. i., p. 887, Sp. 74 — 

 Emberiza coerulea, Gmel. Syst. i., p. 876. Lath. Ind. p. 415, Sp. 59, Male in 

 moult. — Tan ac/ra coerulea ? Gmel. Syst. i., p. 891, Sp. 27. Lath. Ind. p. 427, Sp. 

 27, adult Male. — Tanagra carolinensis coerulea, Briss. Ac. hi., p. 13, Sp. 6, adult 

 Male in full dress. — Emberiza canadensis coerulea, Briss. Av. in., p. 298, Sp. 12, 

 PI. 14, fig. 2, Male moulting. — Passerina cyanea, Vieill Knuv. Diet. Hist. Nat. 

 — Fringilla cyanea, Nob. Obs. Sp. 112. Id. Cat. and Synop. Birds U. S. Sp. 164. 

 — Linaria cyanea, Bart. 7Vrtr. p. 296. — Linaria coerulea, the Blue Linnet, Catesby, 

 Car. I., p 45, PI. 45. — Leministre, Buff. Ois. iv., p. 86. — Uazuroux, Buff. Ois. 

 IV., p. 369, Male moulting. — Passe-bleu? Buff. Ois. iii., p. 495, adult Male in 

 full plumage. — Moineau bleu de Cayenne? Buff. PI. Enl. 203, fig. 2, adult ]Male 

 \n full dress. — Blue Linnet, Edw. Av. iv., p. 132, PI. 273, lower figure. — Luligo 

 Bunting, Penn. Arct. Zool. it , Sp. 235. Lath. Syn. iv., p. 205, Sp. 53.— Blue 

 Bunting, Penn. Arct. Zool. ii., Sp. 234. Lath. Syn. iii., p. 205, Sp. 52, Male 

 moulting. — Blue Tanagerf Lath. Syn. in., p. 234, Sp. 28. 



* See "Wilson's American Ornithology, ii., p. 124, PI. 6, fig. 5, for the Male. 



