INDIGO BUNTING. 
conclusion that the key was F. I have taken the liberty 
of slurring the notes. 
I made a somewhat similar record at the railroad depot 
of Campton, N. H., August 15, 1901 (this shows how 
late the little fellow sings), and there appeared to be no 
question about the key; it was B flat. 
En valsant. 
EE EEE 
ee A Be S__» 154 
(or ace a a el wd 
tame ES aoe A oe = ae 
-—3 
con linuation 
birds theme! 
There is in this song, as there is in almost every Bunting’s 
song, a particular note which is burred. 
Of all the birds belonging to the Finch Family this is 
the one whose song sounds most like that of the Canary, 
though I must except, to a certain degree, the Goldfinch, 
But quite unlike the Canary, the Indigo Bunting never 
gives thé rapidly repeated note which is generally called 
a trill, or any complication of bubbling tones. His is 
the simplest kind of a performance, brief, and at the 
same time full of beauty and good cheer. He is classed 
among those immensely useful birds which destroy not 
only an infinite number of injurious beetles and bugs, 
but also an incalculable amount of weedseed. Although 
in the vicinity of my summer home in Campton he is 
most frequently seen at the top of some gray birch, 
or the wild cherry-tree, he is often found, late in the 
season, hunting for seeds on the roadside. 
Mr. F. E. L. Beal in writing about the annual destruc- 
tion of weed seed by the Junco in the State of Iowa, 
says: ‘‘ Upon the basis of one-fourth of an ounce of seed 
eaten daily by each bird, and supposing that the birds 
139 
