BUNTINGS. 



123 



on the disc of a Uiistle-flower, the summit of a stalk, 

 or other elevation ; and where tlie Chingolos are very 

 abundant the whole air on a bright spring iiiorninj; is 

 alive with their delicate melody ; only one must pause 

 and listen before he is aware of it, otlierwise it will 

 escape him, owing to its thin ethereal cliaracter, the 

 multitiuliiious notes not iringling, but floating away, 

 as it wore, dctacluil and scattered, mere gossamer webs 

 of sound that vci-y faintly impress the sen.«e. They also 

 sin,? frequently at night, and in that dark silent time 

 their little melody sounds strangely sweet and expres- 

 sive. The Fong varies greatly in different districts; 

 thus in Baliia 151an<:a it is without the long trill at the 

 end, and in other localities I have found it vary in other 

 ways. 



" The Chingolos pair about the end of September, and 

 at that time their battles are frequent, as they are very 

 jjugnarious. The nest is made under a thistle or tuft 

 of grass, in a depression in the sf)il, so that the top of 

 the nest is on a level with the surface of the ground. 

 The nest is mostly made and lined with horsehair, the 

 e;gs four or five, pale blue, and thickly spotted with 

 dull lemon. Sometimes, tliough very rarely, a nest is 

 found in a bush or a stump several feet above the 

 ground. Two broods are reared in the season, the first 

 in October, the second in Fel>ruary or March. I have 

 known these birds to breed hi April and May, and these 

 very lato nests escane the infliction of pai'asitical eggs. 

 When the nest is approached or taken the Chingolos 

 •utter no sound, but sit in dumb ,T,nxiet.y, with tail ex- 

 panded and drooping wings." 



The song, describcid as a " delicate melody," is as 

 follows : — " Tewhitti eeo, eeo ; chee." I have heard it 

 dozens of times , and never knew it to vary. 



From what Dr. Russ says, he appears never to have 

 pos.stssed tl;^s bird ; he, moreover, concludes his account 

 of it thus: — "It has not yet besn bred, since hitherto 

 nobody has taken the trouble to make experiments with 

 this jil.uii-looking fiparrovr." It is ftrange that the 

 quiet h"auty of this charming little bird should not have 

 appealed to the great German breeder; it is far more 

 artistically beautiful really than the gaudy Xonoareil. 

 Apart from all questions of plumage, the scientific inte- 

 rest; of breeding a dull-coloured bird is certainly quite 

 as great as that of breeding tlie most brilliantly tinted 

 species. Lastl.y, the term " Sparrow " as applied to this 

 species is a misnomer, since the habits of the bird, as 

 described by Mr. Hudson, more nearly resemble those 

 of the Reed Bunting ; moreover, it is an undoubted 

 Bunting. 



In 1907 ilr. W. E. Teschemaker bred this species in 

 one of his aviaries, and has written an interesting 

 account of his experience in The Arictdtvj-al Magazine 

 for November of that year. The nests were built well 

 away fi-om the earth. The ground-colour of the eggs 

 laid by two hens was white or cream-coloured, not blue, 

 but we know that in very many species which gencrallv 

 lay pale blue eggs the cream-coloured form frequently 

 occurs. (See my notes on the egjs laid by the Green 

 Singing Finch as one instance.) Mr. Teschemaker very 

 kindly cent me two of the young birds, which arrived 

 on October 30th. 



The lovely members of the genus Ci/ann.ipi'za were 

 always procurable nrcvious to about the year 1904 at 

 the rate of alx)ut eight or nine shillings apiece. Now 

 that no more are allowed to be shipped from the 

 Unite:! States the only chance for the dealers is to obtain 

 them from Central .Vmerici and the West Indies ; there- 

 fore it is possible that these biixls may be considerably 

 dearer. 



Like the species of Zonotrichia, they do well upon 

 millet and canaJy, in addition to in.*ect focd. 



Nonpareil Buntino (Cyanospha ciris). 



The cock bird, which is a little smaller than a 

 Chaffinch, but of a similar foim and somewhat the same 

 arrangement of colours, has the upper part of the head, 

 cheeks, and shoulders of an almost ultramarine blue, 

 the baok golden green, shading into orange on the 

 rump ; the Lail-coverts yellow, shading into golden 

 green; the tail feathers duller green; the wing feathers 

 greyish bronze; the lesser coverts being wholly bronze, 

 whilst all the other wir.g feathers have the outer web 

 ■Tolden green ; chin, throat, breast, belly, and imder 

 tail-coverts bright vermilion red, which changes in 

 confinement (excepting in a sunny outdoor aviary) to 

 golden vellow, the fknks slightly tinged with green; 

 beak and legs d;irk grey, eyelids crim.son ; ins of eye 

 hnzel. The hen and young differ from the adult cock 

 bird in having no blue on the head, the plate of this 

 colour l)t;ng occupied by green; the other jjaats are 

 yellow in.stead of vermilion ; all the tints are also 

 slightly duller. Habitat, Southern States of North 

 America, Cuba, the Bahainas, Cozumel, and neighbour- 

 ing islands, and Central America to Panama. 



In its native land its favourite haunts are small 

 thickets, whore the cock may be heard singing from th(/ 

 highest branches of some shrub or bush ; the hen usually 

 places her nest in orange hedges or the lower branches 

 of trees, blackberries, or brambles, and when sitting 

 becomes so tame that, it is stated, she can even be lilted 

 fro.Ti the nest; the latter is formed of extremely dry 

 grass, felted together with the silk of caterpillars, hair, 

 and fine rootlets ; the eggs are pearly white, with 

 blotches and dots of purplish and reddish brown. The 

 Nonpareil, being somewhat combative, is usually 

 trapped by means of a stuffed specimen set up on a 

 platform o"f a trap-cage. In an aviary it should not be 

 associated with its relative the Indigo Bunting, or it 

 will occupy much of its leisure in chasing and disputing 

 with this bird, to its no small annoyance. One of the 

 chief chirms of the Nonnareil is the surprising readi- 

 ness with which it learns to recognise its keeper and 

 to take mealworms, flies, and other insects from his 

 fingers ; the hen I find less tame and not so hardy as 

 the cock. 



I have had a fair number of examples of this species, 

 including two genuine hens, but have never known them 

 to nest in captivity, although I feel cerUin that the 

 male which I possessed in 1898-9, from his excitement 

 and abnormal pugnacity, would have bred readily if 

 confined in an aviary with a hen of his own soecies, and 

 no disturbing elements; he paired with a Bramblmg, 

 and she began to build, but laid no eggs. Tlie Non- 

 pareil should always have insect-food of some kind in 

 addition to seed ; ants' cocoons will answer the purpose. 



In The Ai'iculfural Magazine. 1st ser., Vol. V., 

 p. 165, the Rev. C. D. Fan-ar published an account of 

 his success in breeding the Nonpareil Bunting in cap- 

 tivity. According to him, the eggs laid by his hen 

 were sea-green, heavily blotihed at the large end with 

 sienna-brown ; but it must not therefore be concluded 

 that this is the normal colouring, and that recorded by 

 Ameiican observers, who have taken many nests, is not 

 the more frequent tyTe 5 eggs of most birds vary consi- 

 derably. 



Indigo BrNTiN-o {Cijanospiza cyanea). 



The cock when in colour is bright cobalt blue tinged 

 with ultramarine on the head, throat and middle of 

 breast ; on the other parts there are traces of emerald 

 green the chin partly black, the feathers of the wing 

 browii, slightly bluish on their outer edges. The hen 

 is brown above, tinged with blue on the shoulders, 

 edges of larger feathers, and rump ; below whitish, 



