160 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



her mate was not indigo, for there was enough blue ting- 

 ing shoulders and back to make them almost "dove'' 

 color, similar to the vinaceous tints of the prairie horned 

 lark, or shading darker than the colors of the dove with- 

 out the metallic reflections. Stepping yet nearer, I startled 

 her from her nest, and she flitted to the fence near by, 

 hopping around and facing meas she chirped with anxiety. 

 Then I could note the dingy white colors of her breast, 

 which seemed to have a faint tinge of yellow. Her calls of 

 alarm and anxiety brought another form to her side, and 

 to see them apart, who would ever suppose that both birds 

 were of the same species ? They were as unlike in colors 

 as the male and female of the scarlet tanager, or the male 

 and female of the orchard and Baltimore orioles. Look- 

 ing into the nest left exposed by the mother bird, what 

 was my surprise to see only one Qgg, for I had never 

 witnessed so much faithfulness exhibited in the care of a 

 single fresh Qgg. Eeturning that way in the evening, I 

 approached the spot cautiously, this time from the rear ; 

 and as I had expected, I found the female sitting upon 

 her solitary treasure. After again enjoying the jDretty 

 picture, I startled her from her home, this time to be 

 further surprised by seeing a newly-hatched, naked little 

 nestling ! I could now account for the faithfulness of the 

 mother in the morning. But how did it happen that she 

 had been brooding only one Qgg'i Visiting the spot 

 several days later, I found the bush cut close to the ground 

 by the indifferent men who kept the track in order, and 

 I reflected that the faithful care of that little mother bird 

 in brooding one egg had been lost. No, not lost, for the 

 expenditure of the mother's love for her infant can not be 

 in vain, though the babe live only long enough to die in 

 her yearning arms. The maternal love must ever enrich 

 the heart that enshrines it, and so I imagined that the 

 songs of this pair were only more tender and expressive 

 after their sad experience of the summer. 



The nests of the indigo bunting are seldom begun be- 

 fore the middle of May in this section. The sites most 

 favored are usually in low bushes, clumps of wild black- 

 berry, hazel, and elm. The indigo bunting does not hesi- 

 tate to establish its home in the gooseberr}', blackberry, 



