AVERY BIRD COLLECTION 95 



"This bird is not common in this part of Alabama. His 

 song-, which I have heard only once, is very sweet. He 

 seems to be granivorous, as he may be seen along the 

 edges of oat fields, or in the roads at times — where grain 

 may be found either in the dung of horses or wasted 

 there when carried to mill. 



"He is very shy for so small a bird. His call note is a 

 chirp like that of the cardinal grosbeak, with this modi- 

 fication : the chirp of the blue grosbeak is to the chirp of 

 the red-bird as the ring of a silver dollar is to the thump 

 of a copper cent or to that of a nickel. 



"The indigo-bird has a note very similar to the chirp 

 of these two grosbeaks, but much feebler. 



"The blue-grosbeak disappears from this part of Ala- 

 bama on the approach of cold weather." 



Eleven days later a female, whose "stomach contained 

 grains of wheat and debris of insects," was taken in the 

 same locality. 



Early in June, 1888, the Doctor collected a set of 

 four eggs, with nest, from a sweet gum, about three feet 

 from the ground, but unfortunately he neglected to record 

 the exact date. Dimensions of nest: Circumference 

 around rim, 11.50 in.; outside depth 3 in.; inside depth, 

 1.59 in. ; outside diameter, 4 in. ; inside diameter, 2.75 in. 

 Materials : "Foundation : dried stems of herbs ; then also 

 woven in, portions of snake shed; then leaves of coarse 

 grass woven in with the leaves of deciduous trees; the 

 whole lined with dry grass stems. This nest was on a 

 pine hill in an open locality a few steps from a path." 



"Common. Summer resident. Breeds." (1891a). 



No. 424. Male. Greensboro. Apr. 18, 1881 (?). W. C. Avery. 



No. 568. Male-.iuv. Greensboro. Aug. 12, 1890. W. C. Avery. 



No. 709. Female. Greensboro. Sept. 26, 1890. W. C. Avery. 



No. 710. Female. Greensboro. Sept. 26, 1890. W. C. Avery. 



No. 854. Male. Greensboro. May 23, 1891. W. C. Avery. 



148. PASSERINA CYANEA (Linn^us). 



Indigo Bunting. 



"Indigo Bird." — "Summer Bluebird." 



The Doctor's first specimen of this species was an adult 

 male taken at Greensboro, June 3, 1876. Its stomach 

 "contained seeds, sand, and small oblong, white bodies 



