THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 245 



597 Guiraca caerulea (Linnaeus). 

 Blue Grosbeak. 



Adult male. — Length, 7. Wing, 3.50. General color, bright blue, shaded 

 with dusky on the middle of the back ; wings and tail, black, edged with blue ; 

 shoulder of wing, chestnut, as are also the tips of the tertials and greater- 

 coverts. 



Female. — Pale brown, drab on the lower back, still paler below ; two obscure 

 wing bars. 



"Nest in bushes ; eggs, three to four, plain bluish-white, .85 x .65. 



Audubon describes in detail a nest with young which he found near 

 Camden in the summer of 1829, and which appears in the plate of 

 this species in his Birds of America. 



Turnbull calls it a rare straggler in New Jersey, possibly entirely 

 on Audubon's authority. 



Thurber (1887) says that it has been seen at Morristown by Mr. 

 Fairchild, and Mr. E. P. Bicknell records several individuals noticed 

 by Mr. Akhurst, a taxidermist, near Snake Hill, N. J., in the vicinity 

 of New York City. 



These meagre records constitute all that we know of the bird in 

 New Jersey. 



598 Passerina cyanea (Linnaeus). 

 Indigo Bunting, Indigo-bird. 



PLATE 63. 



Adult maJe.— Length, 4.75-5.75. Wing, 2.60-2.80. Above and below, bright 

 cerulean blue, more purplish on the head ; wings and tail, black, edged with 

 blue. In autumn. — Rich brown, paler on the breast and abdomen ; feathers 

 everywhere with blue bases, which are more or less appai'ent ; wings and tail 

 edged with blue. 



Adult female. — Above, dull brown, with an olive tinge ; below, whitish, some- 

 what tinged with buff and obscurely streaked with dusky on the breast and 

 sides. 



Young in first summer and autumn. — Similar to adult female. 



Male ill first breeding season. — Blue, more or less mottled with worn brown 

 feathers above and white ones below. 



Nest of grass and dead leaves in a crotch of a bush, three or four feet up ; 

 eggs, three to four, bluish-white, .75 x .52. 



Common summer resident. Arrives May 1st (May 7th), departs 

 October 1st. 



