BUNTINGS. 



123 



on the disc of a thistle-flower, the summit of a stalk, 

 or other elevation; and where the Chingolos are very 

 abundant the whole air on a bnight spring morning is 

 alive with their delicate melody ; only one must pause 

 ^ind listen before he is aware of it, otherwise it will 

 escape him, owing to its thin ethereal character, the 

 multitudinous notes not mingling, but floating away, 

 as it were, detached and scattered, mere gossamer webs 

 of sound that very faintly impress the sense. They also 

 sin.2; frequently at night, and in that dark silent time 

 their Little melody sounds strangely sweet and expres- 

 sive. The song varies .greatly in different districts ; 

 thus in Bahia Blanca it as without the long trill at the 

 end, and in other localities I have found it vary in other 

 ways. 



" The Chingolos pair about the end of September, and 

 at that time their battles are frequent, as they are very 

 pugnacious. The nest is made under a thistle or tuft 

 of grass, in a depression in the soil, so that the top of 

 the nest is on a level with the surface of the ground. 

 The nest is mostly made and lined with horsehair, the 

 eggs four or five, pale blue, and thickly spotted with 

 dull lemon. Sometimes, though very rarely, a nest is 

 found in a bush or a stump several feet above the 

 ground. Two broods are reared in the season, the first 

 in October, the second in February or March. I have 

 Tcnown these birds to breed 1111 April and May, and these 

 very late nests escape the infliction of parasitical eggs. 

 When the nest is approached or taken the Chingolos 

 ntter no sound, but sit in dumb anxiety, with tail ex- 

 panded and drooping wings." 



The song, described as a " delicate melody," is as 

 follows: " Tewhitti eeo, eeo; chee." I have heard it 

 dozens of times, and never knew tit to vary. 



From what Dr. Euss says, he appears never to hav 

 possessed this bird ; he, moreover, concludes his account 

 of it thus: "It has not yet been bred, since hitherto 

 nobody has taken the trouble to make experiments with 

 this plain-looking Sparrow." It is grange that the 

 quiet beauty of this charming little bird should not have 

 appealed to the great German breeder; it is far more 

 artistdcally beautiful really than the gaudy Nonpareil. 

 Apart from all questions of plumage, the scientific inte- 

 rest of breeding a dull-coloured bird is certainly quite 

 as great as that of breeding the most brilliantly tinted 

 species. Lastly, the term " Sparrow " as applied to this 

 species is a misnomer, since the habits of the bird, as 

 described by Mr. Hudson, more nearly resemble those 

 of the Beed Bunting; moreover, it is an undoubted 

 Bunting. 



In 1907 Mr. W. E. Teschemaker bred this species in 

 one of his aviaries, and has written an interesting 

 account of has experience in The, Avicultural Magazine 

 for November of that year. The nests were built well 

 away from the earth. The ground-colour of the eggs 

 laid by two hens was white or cream-coloured, not blue, 

 but we know that in very many species which generally 

 lay pale blue eggs the cream-coloured form frequently 

 occurs. (See my notes on the eg^s laid by the Green 

 Singing Finch as one instance.) Mr. Teschemaker very 

 kindly sent me two of the young birds, which arrived 

 on October 30th. 



The lovely members of the genus Cyanospiza, were 

 always procurable previous to about the year 1904 at 

 the rate of about eight or nine shillings apiece. Now 

 that no more are allowed to be shipped from the 

 Unite i States the only chance for the dealers is to obtain 

 them from Central America and the West Inddes ; there- 

 fore it is possible that these birds may be considerably 

 dearer. 



Like the species of Zonotrichia, they do well upon 

 millet and canaiy, in addition to insect food. 



NONPAREIL BTJNTING (Cyanospiza ciris). 



The cock bird, which is a little smaller than a 

 Chaffinch, but of a similar form and somewhat the same 

 arrangement of colours, has the upper part of the head, 

 cheeks, and shoulders of an almost ultramarine blue, 

 the 'back golden green, shading into orange on the 

 rump; the tail-coverts yellow, shading into golden 

 green ; the tail feathers duller green ; the wing feathers 

 greyish bronze ; the lesser coverts being wholly bronze, 

 whilst all the other wing feathers have the outer web 

 golden green; chin, throat, breast, belly, and under 

 fail-coverts bright vermilion red, which changes in 

 confinement (excepting iin a sunny outdoor aviary) to 

 golden yellow, the flanks slightly tinged with green; 

 beak and legs dark grey, eyelids crimson; iris of eye 

 hazel. The hen and young differ from the adult cock 

 bird in having no blue on the head, the place of this 

 colour being occupied by green; the other parts are 

 yellow instead of vermilion; all the tints are also 

 slightly duller. Habitat, Southern States of North 

 America, Cuba, the Bahamas, Cozumel, and neighbour- 

 ing islands, and Central America to Panama. 



In its native land its favourite haunts are small 

 thickets, where the cock may be heard singing from th<; 

 highest branches of some shrub or bush ; the hen usually 

 places her nest in orange hedges or the lower branches 

 of trees, blackberries, or brambles, and when sitting 

 becomes so tame that, it is stated, she can even be lifted 

 from the nest; the latter is formed of extremely dry 

 en-ass, felted together with the silk of caterpillars, hair, 

 and fine rootlets; the eggs are pearly white, with 

 blotches and dots of purpltish and reddish brown. The 

 Nonpareil, being somewhat combative, is usually 

 trapped by means of a stuffed specimen set up on a 

 platform of a trap-cage. In an aviary it should not be 

 associated with its relative the Indigo Bunting, or it 

 will occupy much of its leisure in chasing and disputing 

 with this bird, to its no small annoyance. One of the 

 chief charms of the Nonpareil is the surprising readi- 

 ness with which it learns to recognise its keeper and 

 to take mealworms, flies, and other insects from his 

 fingers ; the hen I find less tame and not so hardy as 

 the cock. 



I have had a fair number of examples of this species, 

 including two genuine hens, but have never known them 

 to nest in captivity, although I feel certain that the 

 male which I possessed in 1898-9, from his excitement 

 and abnormal pugnacity, would have bred readily if 

 confined in an aviary with a hen of his own species, and 

 no disturbing elements; he paired with a Bramblmg, 

 and she began to build, but laid no eggs. The Non- 

 pareil should always have insect-food of some kind in 

 addition to seed ; ants' cocoons will answer the purpose. 



In The Avicultural Magazine, 1st ser., Vol. V., 

 p 165, the Rev. C. D. Farrar published an account of 

 his success in breeding the Nonpareil Bunting in cap- 

 tivity. According to him, the eggs laid by his hen 

 were sea-reen, heavily blotched at the large end with 

 sienna-brown ; but it must not therefore be concluded 

 that this is the normal colouring, and that recorded by 

 American observers, who have taken many nests, is not 

 the more frequent type ; eggs of most birds vary consi- 

 derably. 



INDIGO BUNTING (Cyanospiza cyanea). 



The cock when in colour is bright cobalt blue tinged 

 with ultramarine on the head, throat, and middle of 

 breast ; on the other parts there are traces of emerald 

 green, the chin partly black, the feathers of the wing 

 browii, slightly bluish on their outer edges. The hen 

 is brown above, tinged with blue on the shoulders, 

 edges of larger feathers, and rump; below whitish, 



