280 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
words, the task becomes difficult; for to use simply the 
term indigo-blue is as inadequate as to say that a bit of 
water that looks blue while in shadow, is of the same colour 
when it ripples out into full sunlight and catches a dozen 
reflections from foliage and sky. A merely technical 
description would read: Front of head and chin rich 
indigo-blue, growing lighter and greener on back and under- 
parts; wings dusky brown, with blue edges to coverts; 
tail-feathers also blue edged; bill and feet dark; general 
shape rounded and canary-like, resembling the Gold- 
finch. 
“The last of May one of these Buntings came to a low 
bush, outside my window, and, after resting awhile, for 
the night before had been stormy, dropped to the closely 
cut turf to feed upon the crumbs left where the hounds 
had been munching their biscuits. I have never seen a 
more beautiful specimen, and the contrast with the vivid 
grass seemed to develop the colour of malachite that ran 
along one edge of the feathers, shifting as the bird moved 
like the sheen of changeable silk. 
“‘The nest, in no wise typical, is a loose and rather care- 
less structure of grass, twigs, horsehairs, roots, or bits 
of bark placed in a low, scrubby tree or bush at no great 
distance from the ground, and the eggs are a very pale 
blue or bluish white, and only three or four in number. 
“Being a seed-eater, it is undoubtedly this Bunting’s 
love of warmth that gives him so short a season with us: 
for he does not come to the New England states until the 
first week in May, and, after the August moult, when he 
dons the sober clothing of his mate, he begins to work 
southward by the middle of September, — those from the 
