BEHIND THE BARS 281 
most northerly portions of the breeding range, which 
extends northward to Minnesota and Nova Scotia, having 
passed by the tenth of October. He winters in Central 
America and southward. 
“‘ Although of the insect-eating fraternity of the conical 
beak, the Indigo Bunting consumes many noxious insects 
in the nesting season, when the rapid growth of the 
young demands animal food, no matter to what race 
they belong. Being an inhabitant of the overgrown 
edges of old pastures, or the brushy fences of clearings 
and pent roads, he is in a position where he can do a 
great deal of good. Mr. Forbush, in his valuable book on 
Useful Birds and Their Protection, credits the Indigo 
Bunting with being a consumer of the larve of the mis- 
chievous brown-tail moth; but whatever service it may do 
as an insect destroyer, its service the year through as 
a consumer of weed seeds, in common with the rest of its 
tribe, is beyond dispute. 
‘The voice of the Indigo Bunting is pretty rather than 
impressive, and varies much in individuals. It consists 
of a series of hurried, canary-like notes repeated constantly 
and rising in key, but, to my mind, never reaching the 
dignity of being called impressive song. 
“Nuttall, one of the early American Wise Men, writes 
that, though usually shy, the Indigo-bird, during the season, 
is more frequently seen near habitations than in remote 
thickets: ‘Their favourite resort is the garden, where, 
from the topmost branch of some tall tree that commands 
the whole wide landscape, the male regularly pours out 
his lively chant and continues it for a considerable length 
of time. Nor is this song confined to the cool and ani- 
