82 NOETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



yellow below. Hah. Gulf States of United States, and whole of Middle 



America. 



5. C. leclancheri.' Lower parts gamboge-yellow. Back blue, crown 



green, rump blue ; eyelids yellow. Female not seen. Hah. Southern 



Mexico. 



Cyanospiza cyanea, Baird. 



INDIGO BIRD. 



TaTiagra cyanea, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 315. Emoeriza cyanea, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 

 1788, 876. Fringilla cyanea, Wilson, I, 1810, 100, pi. vi, f. 5. — AuD. Orn. Biog. 

 I, 1832, 377 ; V, 503, pi. Ixxiv. Passcrina cyanea, Vieill. Diet. Spiza cyanea, Bon. 

 List, 1838. — Ib. Consp. 1850, 474. — AuD. Syn. 1839, 109. —1b. Birds Am. Ill, 

 1841, 96, pi. clxx. Cyanospiza cyanea, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 505. — Samuels, 

 330. i Emheriza cyanella, Gm. \, 1788, 887. 1 Eniberiza coerulea, Gm. Syst. Nat. \, 

 1788, 876. Indigo Bunting, and Blue Bunting, Pennant and Latham. 



Sp. Char. Male. Blue, tinged with ultramarine on the head, throat, and middle of 

 breast ; elsewhere with verdigris-green. Lores and anterior angle of chin velvet-black. 

 Wing-feathers brown, edged externally with dull bluish-brown. Female. Brown above ; 

 whitish, obscurely streaked or blotched with brownish-yellow, beneath ; tinged with blue 

 on shoulders, edges of larger feathers, and on rump. Immature males similar, variously 

 blotched with blue. Very young birds streaked beneath. Length, about 5.75 inches ; 

 wing, nearly 3.00. 



Hab. Eastern United States to the Missouri ; south to Guatemala. Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 

 379) ; Cordova (Scl. 1856, 304) ; Guatemala (Sol. Ibis, I, 17) ; Cuba (Cab. J. IV, 8) ; 

 Costa Rica (Cab. Jour. 1861, 4 ; Lawr. IX, 103) : Vera Cruz, winter (Sum. M. B. S. I, 552). 



In this species, which may be considered the type of the genus, the tail is 

 slightly emarginate ; the second quill is longest, the first shorter than the 

 fourth. 



Habits. The common Indigo Bird of the Eastern States is found in 

 nearly uniform and tolerable abundance in various parts of the United 

 States, from the valley of the Missouri to the Atlantic, and from Florida to 

 New Brunswick. It is a summer visitant, but rare, in Eastern Maine, but is 

 common in the western part of the State, where it arrives early in May, and 

 where it breeds. Mr. Allen speaks of it as not very common in the vicinity 

 of Springfield, Mass., arriving there about the middle of May, and breeding 

 in gardens, orchards, and the edges of woods, and making its nests in bushes. 

 It leaves there about the middle of September. 



In the eastern part of the State it is very unequally distributed. In cer- 

 tain localities it has not been met with, but in other favorite places it seems 

 to be quite common, and to be on the increase. In the gardens of Brookline 

 and Eoxbury they are comparatively quite abundant. Mr. Maynard gives 

 May 10 as the earliest date of their coming. He also states that in the 

 autumn they are found in flocks, and frequent roadsides, high sandy fields, 



1 Cyanospiza leclancheri. Spiza leclancheri, Lafr. Mag. Zool. 1841, pi. xxii. — Less. R.vZ. 

 1842, 74. 



