Across the Fields. 233 



Bird, to which it is closely related, this bird is between five inches and a 

 quarter and five inches and a half long. 



In the vicinity of New Orleans, where the bird breeds 

 Painted Bunting, ^^d is common, it is known as the " Pape," from its fine blue 



Passerina ciris (Linn.). . 



hood covering the head and sides of the neck. The back is 

 a peculiarly shaded green with a brilliant golden tinge. The rump is deep red, 

 and the wings and tail are dusky with a tinge of deep red. The entire lower 

 parts and eyelids are vermilion. This is the adult male, and the female and im- 

 mature birds are deep olive green above, the wings and tail being dusky and 

 shaded with the olive green of the back. The lower parts are uniform dull 

 yellowish olive, sometimes almost grayish or whitish, shaded with yellow and 

 dull olive. 



The nesting habits and economy are similar to that of the Indigo Bird, 

 and the bluish white eggs, from three to five in number, are marked with 

 varying shades of brown. They are a little less than four fifths of an inch 

 long and almost three fifths of an inch in their smaller diameter. 



The birds are found in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, raneine as 

 far north as North Carolina and Southern Illinois and Kansas. They winter 

 sparsely in the extreme Southern States and thence south to Panama. 



Varied Bunting-. The Varied Bunting, a bird of the Rio Grande Valley 



Passerina versicolor (Bonap.). and the Mexican bordcr, has been taken once in Michigan. 



In old fields and pastures where clumps of bushes have sprung up. and 



in the growth along the fences and walls that form dividing lines you will 



see Indigo Birds. 

 Indigo Bunting. j^ ^^^ ^^^^jj ^-^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ j^^j^^^ ^^^ ^ j^^jf j^^ 



Passerina cyanea (Linn. (. •' o 



The male is unmistakable in his coat of deep blue, which 

 is most intense on the head and sides of the face and brightest on the back. 

 The wings and tail ^re dusky or black and the exposed edges of each feather 

 are blue. The female is brownish, unstreaked above and lighter on the under 

 parts, becoming whitish on the belly. The wings and tail are dusky, some- 

 times showing suggestions of blue on the exposed edges of the feathers. 

 Immature birds are much like the female, and adult males in the fall and 

 winter are heavily washed with reddish brown showing an admixture of blue. 

 The nest is placed near the ground in a fork or crotch generally in dense 



