A BIRD MISCELLANY 155 



and, as if to give variety to the bird's attire, the nape and 

 back are prettily shaded with brown, and the wings 

 and tail with black. But his plumage is still more 

 variegated, for he bears a conspicuous white spot on 

 the greater wing-coverts, and his breast is daintily tinted 

 with chestnut-brown, abruptly cut off from the blue of 

 the throat, while the remaining under parts are snowy 

 white. From this description it will be seen that he is 

 quite unlike the indigo-bird, which has no brown or 

 white in his cerulean attire. Handsome as Master 

 Indigo is, the lazuli finch, with his sextet of hues, is a 

 more showily dressed bird ; in fact, a lyric in colors. 



The habits of the two birds are quite similar. How- 

 ever, the lazuli seemed to be much shyer than his rela- 

 tive, for the latter is a familiar figure at the border of 

 our eastern woodlands, about our country homes, and 

 even in the neighborhood of our town dwellings, when 

 there are bushes and trees close at hand. My saunter- 

 ings among the mountains took me into the haunts of 

 the lazulis, but I regret to have to confess that all my 

 alertness was of so little avail that I saw only three 

 males and one female. One day, while rambling among 

 the cottonwoods that broidered the creek flowing south 

 of Colorado Springs, I was brought to a standstill by a 

 sharp chirp, and the next moment a pair of lazulis 

 appeared on the lower branches and twigs of a tree. 

 There they sat quiet enough, watching me keenly, 



