THE LAZULI BUNTING. 



The joy is great of him who strays 

 In shady woods on summer days. 



— Maurice Thompson. 



^JJIX Colorado and Arizona the 

 Lazuli Painted Finch, as it is 

 called, is common, while in 

 eJ_|_ California it is very abundant, 

 beinj;, in fact, ijenerally dis- 

 tributed throu,i;hout the west, and 

 along the Pacific Coast it is found as 

 far north as Pnget Sound, during the 

 summer. Davie says it replaces the 

 Indigo P)unting, (See Birds, Vol. I, 

 page 173,) from the Plains to the 

 Pacific, being found in all suitable 

 localities. The nest is usually built 

 in a bush or in the lower limbs of trees, 

 a few feet from the ground. Fine 

 strips of bark, small twigs, grasses, and 

 hair are used in preparing it for the 

 four tiny, light bluish-green eggs, 

 which readily fade when exposed to 

 light. The eggs so closely resemble 

 those of the Bluebird as not to be 

 distinguishable with certainty. The 

 nest is an inartistic one for a bird of 

 gay plumage. 



From Florence A. Merriam's charm- 

 ing book, " A-Birding on a Bronco," 

 we select a description of the pretty 

 manners of this attractive bird. She 

 says : 



" While waiting for the Wood- 

 peckers, one day, I .saw a small 

 brownish bird flying busily back and 

 forth to some green weeds. She was 

 joined by her mate, a handsome blue 

 Lazuli Bunting, even more beautiful 

 than our lovely Indigo, and he flew 

 beside her full of life and joy. He lit 

 on the side of a cockle .stem, and on 

 the instant caught sight of me. Alas! 

 he seemed suddenly turned to stone. 

 He held onto that stalk as if his little 

 legs had been bars of iron and I a 

 devouring monster. When he had 

 collected his wits enough to fly off", 

 instead of the careless gay flight with 



which he had come out through the 

 open air, he timidly kept low within 

 the cockle field, making a circuitous 

 way through the high stalks. He 

 could be afraid of me if he liked, I 

 thought, for after a certain amount of 

 suspicion, an innocent person gets 

 resentful ; at any rate I was going to 

 see that nest. Creeping up cautiously 

 when the mother bird was away, so as 

 not to scare her, and carefully parting 

 the mallows, I looked in. Yes, there 

 it was, a beautiful little sage-qneen 

 nest of old grass laid in a coil. I felt 

 as pleased as if having a right to share 

 the family happiness. After that I 

 watched the small worker gather 

 material with new interest, knowing 

 where she was going to put it. She 

 worked fast, but did not take the first 

 thing she found, by any means. With 

 a flit of the wing she went in nervous 

 haste from cockle to cockle, looking 

 eagerly about her. Jumping down to 

 the ground, she picked up a bit of 

 grass, threw it down dissatisfied, and 

 turned away like a person looking for 

 something. At last she lit on the side 

 of a thistle, and tweaking out a fibre, 

 flew with it to the nest. 



" A month after the first encounter 

 with the father Lazuli, I found him 

 looking at me around the corner of a 

 cockle stalk, and in passing back 

 again, caught him singing full tilt, 

 though his bill was full of insects! 

 After we had turned our backs I looked 

 over my shoulder and had the satis- 

 faction of seeing him take his beakful 

 to the nest. You couldn't help admir- 

 ing him, for though not a warrior who 

 would snap his bill over the head of 

 an enemy of his home, he had a gallant 

 holiday air with his blue coat and 

 merry song, and you felt sure his little 

 brown mate would get cheer and 

 courage enough from his presence to 

 make family dangers appear less 

 frightful." 



196 



