PAINTED BUNTING. 
601. Passerina ciris. 5% inches. 
Male, vari-colored; female, greenish gray. 
Without any exception, these are the most gaudily 
plumaged North American birds, but their colors have 
a harshness cf contrast that renders them far less 
pleasing to the eye than many others of our birds. 
They are often caged, but in confinement soon lose the 
natural brillianey of their plumage. Like the Indigo 
Bunting, they are found in thickets and hedges; their 
habits seem to be precisely like those of the last species. 
Song.—Similar to that of the Indigo but lacking the 
brilhancy of that of the latter bird. 
Nest.—Of grasses, leaves, strips of bark and _ root- 
lets, compactly compressed and woven together, situ- 
ated at low elevations in thickets and low bushes; eggs 
whitish, specked and blotched with reddish brown (.78 x 
58). 
Range.—Southeastern U. 8.. breeding from the Gulf 
north to Virginia, Ohio and Kansas; winters in Cen- 
tral America. 
