76 INDIGO BIRD. 



Indigo Bird. 



Passerina cyanea. 

 Plate XVIII Fig. 1. 



Male, greenish blue throughout, darkest anteriorly. Wings, 

 and tail, brownish. Female, reddish brown throughout, light- 

 er beneath, and more or less tinged with blue. In autumn, 

 both sexes are quite similar, but the adult male is brighter. 

 Young resembles the female. It takes two or three years to 

 perfect the full dress of the male, hence birds in mixed red- 

 dish and blue plumages are frequently seen. 



Dimensions. Length, 5.15 ; stretch, 8.50 ; wing, 2.30 ; tail 

 2.10 ; bill, M ; tarsus, .75. 



Comparisons. We have no other species in New England, 

 which is blue in the adult male, and uniform reddish, without 

 wing markings or streakings in the female, excepting the Blue 

 Grosbeak, but this is a larger bird over six inches long, with a 

 larger, heavier, bill. ( See description of this species in appen- 

 dix.) 



Nests and Eggs. Nests placed in low bushes and thickets, 

 composed of grass, leaves, ete. lined with finer material. Eggs 

 almost always four in number, oval in form, becoming pale 

 bluish green in color, usually unmarked, but occasionally fine- 

 ly dotted with reddish brown. 



General Habits. The Indigo Birds arrive from the 

 south early in May and usually frequent bushy hillsides, 

 which slope up from swampy thickets. The nests are almost 

 always placed in a low bush on the edge of some dense thorny 

 undergrowth, and is thus almost completely concealed. The 



