VARIED BUNTING. 



600. Passerina versicolor. 5^2 inclies. 



This beautiful species is less common than any others 

 of the genus and has a very restricted range in the 

 United States. The plumage of the male birds varies a 

 great dealj that shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion is from a brightly colored specimen. They will 

 average duller than this. These birds frequent thickets 

 or brush-studded pasture land. Their song is described 

 as weaker than that of the Indigo Bunting, but having 

 much of the same character. 



Nest. — 'Built of grasses, bark and fine rootlets: a 

 cup-shaped structure placed in forks of bushes, usually 

 in tangled thickets. The three or four eggs cannot be 

 distinguished from those of the last species. 



Range. — The Lower Rio Grande Valley in southern 

 Texas. A sub-species (pulchra) is also found in Lower 

 California and southern Arizona. 



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