NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 61 



a favorite nesting place is in the vicinity of houses where the first growth 

 of timber has been cut down and a growth of low thick bushes replaces it. 

 He says he has taken the nest in peach, apple, hickory and post-oak trees, 

 ranging from fifteen to thirty feet. 



248. Indigo Bunting — passerina cyanea. White with a bluish tinge 

 unspotted, or rarely thinly dotted with brown ; four or five in number, size 

 .81 by .62. The Indigo is quite an abundant bird in various parts of 

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

 Florida to New Brunswick. Breeds throughout its United States range. 

 The nest is built in a bush or low shrubby tree, generally in an upright 

 crotch ; it is composed of weed stalks, twigs and coarse grass, and lined 

 with finer material of the same. It is on the whole an inartistic nest for a 

 bird of gay plumage. 



Hab. Eastern Provinco ef United States; north to Canada and Maine ; west to Kansas and Indian Ter- 

 ritory; soutti to Texas, Mexico and Central America, 



249. Lazuli Bunting — passerina amcena. Light blue when fresh, on 

 the least exposure fades into bluish white, oval ; the complement of eggs 

 is usually four, size .75 by .58; the eggs are hardly distinguishable from 

 those of the common Bluebird — probably a little more rounded-oval. 

 This Finch is common in Colorado, a summer resident in Arizona, and 

 very abundant in California; in fact it is generally distributed throughout 

 the Pacific Coast, and is found as far north as Puget Sound during the 

 summer. The nest is usually built in a bush or in the lower limbs of trees, 

 a few feet from the ground. It is composed of fine strips of bark, small 



twigs, grasses, and is lined with hair. Hab, High Central Plains to the Pacific. 



251. , Painted Bunting; Nonpareil — passerina ciris. Dull pearly- 

 white or bluish, marked with dots and blotches of reddish-brown, espe- 

 cially at the larger end; the number of eggs laid is four or five; size .80 by 

 .65. The Nonpareil or " Mexican Canary," as it is sometimes called, is a 

 very common resident of the Southern and Southeastern States. Mr. 

 H. Nehrling says that near Houston, Texas, the nest is commonly placed 

 in blackberry bushes, and in the almost impenetrable hedges of the 

 Cherokee-rose {Rosa lavigatd) ; in the more western part of Texas the nest 

 is placed in trees, especially in the larger peach-gardens. It is composed 

 of plant-stems, grasses, spider-webs and bark-strips. 



Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf States to the Pecos River, Texas; south into Middle America to Panama. 



252. Morelet's Seedeater — spermophila moreleti. This curious 

 little Sparrow is found throughout Mexico and Central America and on 

 the Rio Grande, in Texas. Dr. J. C. Merrill, in his "Notes on the 



