THE LAZULI BUNTING. 
165 
recalled by dull greenish blue of rump and upper tail-coverts and by skirtings of 
wing- and tail-feathers; middle and greater coverts tipped with light buffy; 
underparts washed with buffy, most strongly on chest and sides, fading to whitish 
on belly and under tail-coverts. Young birds resemble the female but lack the 
bluish-gray of rump and skirtings, and are usually more or less streaked below 
on chest and sides. Length of adult male: 5.25-5.50 (133.3-139.7); wing 2.87 
(73); tail 2.08 (53); bill .39 (9.9); tarsus .67 (17). Female smaller. 
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; color pattern of male distinctive — 
female not so easy; in general distinguishable by a softness and uniformity of the 
grayish brown. 
Nesting.—WNest: a loosely constructed, bulky structure made chiefly of dead 
grasses and strips of soft bark, with a heavy inner lining of hair; placed about 
three feet up in fork of weed, bush or sapling; measures, outside, 414 inches 
across by 3 in depth, inside, 2% wide by 1% deep. Eggs: 4, very pale blue 
unmarked or, rarely, dotted with reddish brown. Av. size .76 x .56 (19.3 x 14.2). 
Season: first week in June; one brood. 
General Range.—Western United States from eastern border of Great 
Plains to the Pacific (less common on Pacific slope) north to southern British 
Columbia (chiefly east of the Cascades) ; south, in winter, to Cape St. Lucas and 
the Valley of Mexico. 
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident east of Cascade Moun- 
tains; less common and of irregular distribution in the Puget Sound region; 
breeds in Cascades up to 3,000 feet. 
Migrations.—S pring: Yakima County May 5, 1906; Chelan May 21, 1896. 
Authorities.—? Fringilla amena, Audubon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 64, 230; plates 
398, 424. Cyanospiza amena Baird, Baird, Rep Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 
sos, I, C&G, IDS Rae IDA Sse Sse lie lek las 
Specimens.—U. of W. P'. Prov. B. E. 
ONE can scarcely believe his eyes as this jewel flashes from a thicket, 
crosses a space of common air, and disappears again all in a trice. Either 
there has been some optical illusion, or Nature has grown careless to fling 
her turquoises about in such fashion. We must investigate. Upon arrival, 
somewhere about the 10th of May, and before the return of his dun-colored 
mate, the male Lazuli is quite conscious of his prominence in the landscape. 
He avoids notice and goes bounding away if closely pressed; but love soon 
makes him bold, and he will pursue the object of his affections into the very 
thicket where you stand. Then, while the female lurks timidly within, he 
mounts a spray and yields an outburst of music, piercing and earnest, if not 
too sweet. We see that his blue is deep azure, or turquoise, rather than that of 
the lapis lazuli from which he is named. ‘The red of his breast is nearly that 
of the Robin’s, while the pure white of the remaining underparts completes 
a patriotic study in red, white, and blue. The female shows something of 
the color pattern of her mate, with the important exception that dull brown 
supplants the royal blue of head and back. After all, then, they are fitted 
