Wayne: Birds of South Carolina. 133 



in number, pale blue, and measure .84X.66. Two broods are 

 raised; the first is on the wing late in June, while the second 

 brood is abroad in August. 



I have an adult female which closely resembles the immature 

 male of the third year, and I believe that it requires at least four 

 years before the males acquire their full adult plumage. 



The Blue Grosbeak ranges in the breeding season from Florida 

 to Pennsylvania, while stragglers have been taken in Massachu- 

 setts, New Brunswick, and Quebec. 



227. Passerina cyanea (Linn.). Indigo Bunting. 



The Indigo Bird is very locally distributed in the breeding 

 season, being tolerably abundant in some localities while absent 

 in others. It seems to prefer clearings which border swamps 

 of willow or cane. This species is a summer resident, generally 

 arriving by April 22 and remaining until November 3. In au- 

 tumn, especially in the month of October, large flights take place. 

 On some cold days hundreds can be seen in a radius of a quarter 

 of a mile. 



The Indigo Bird is a persistent singer and the song period of 

 the male is of long duration, lasting from April until the middle 

 of August. The birds resort to oat fields in May and June to 

 feed upon the grain, but they are chiefly insectivorous from April 

 to September and graminivorous in the autumn months. Of the 

 thousands of individuals that I have observed in the autumn 

 months, I have never seen one in the plumage of the adult male 

 in spring, and believe that the latter assume the plumage of the 

 females and young males in the autumn. 



A nest of this species that I found near Charleston on May 28, 

 1889, was built in a cane, four feet from the ground in a large 

 swamp, and contained four shghtly incubated eggs. The eggs 

 are pale bluish white, and measure .73X.57. 



This species breeds as far north as Nova Scotia and winters 

 in Central America. 



^ 228. Passerina ciris (Linn.). Nonpareil; Painted Bunting, 

 This gorgeous bird is a summer resident. The adult males 

 arrive irregularly in April, my earliest record being April 9, 1888, 

 while in other years I have not observed them until the 18th 

 or 23rd. The females appear from five to nine days after the 

 males. 



