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Genus Passerina. Nonpareils. 



598. Indigo Bunting. FR. LE PINSON INDIGO. Passerina cyanea. L, 5-59. 

 A rather small Sparrow; the male, brilliant blue all over, the female nearly uniformly 

 buffy rust colour with occasional faint suggestions of the blue of the male, slightly whitish 

 below with faint and indistinct stripes. Autumn birds show intermediate stages between 

 the above coloration or with stronger reddish rust. 



Distinctions. The Indigo Bunting is our only all-blue bird; the Bluebird, the only 

 comparable bird, has a reddish breast. The even, almost unvaried, dull, rusty colour of 

 the female and juvenile distinguishes them from other species. 



Field Marks. The all-blue colour of the male and the even reddish of the females 

 and juveniles. 



Nesting. Generally in the crotch of a bush 2 to 3 feet above the ground, in nest of 

 grasses, dead leaves, and strips of bark, lined with fine grasses, rootlets, and long hairs. 



Distribution. North America east of the plains and north well into Canada. 



The Indigo Bunting commonly frequents brushy overgrown wastes, 

 burnt land, or slashes. It has a pleasing song. 



Economic Status. Our knowledge of the food of the Indigo Bunting 

 is not complete. There is little doubt that it has the usual food habits 

 of its family; and it is credited with doing good work against the brown- 

 tailed moth. It is undoubtedly as worthy of protection as the others of 

 its kind. 



Genus Spiza. Dickcissel. 



604. Dickcissel. Spiza americana. L, 6. Back striped with dark brown and 

 ruddy buff changing to solid dull red on wing-coverts; hindneck slate-grey to crown where 

 it is strongly tinged with yellow; cheeks grey with pure yellow eyebrow line. White 

 below; breast pure yellow and throat with a sharply-defined black throat-patch or bib. 



Distinctions. The yellow breast and black throat, slightly suggesting a small Meadow- 

 lark, are distinctive. 



Distribution. Eastern America, mostly in the interior and central portions. In 

 eastern Canada, irregularly across our borders in southwestern Ontario. 



This beautiful open-field species is rare in Canada. A few have 

 appeared for a short series of years in the region at the west end of lake 

 Erie and then vanished to reappear some years later. 



FAMILY TANAGRID.E. TANAGERS. 



General Description. Brilliantly coloured birds with bills resembling those of Spar- 

 rows but slightly elongated, and with an evenly curved culmen. Cutting edge of upper 

 mandible toothed and notched though in some species too slightly to be seen without 

 careful examination (Figure 53, p. 26). 



Distinctions. Besides the bill features above, the eastern Canadian species can be 

 easily recognized by colour. The spring males are birds of brilliant red coloration, the 

 females and autumn birds are dull warm yellows or greens with no sharp, detailed mark- 

 ings and little variety in colour except in the even masses of the wings and tail. Spring 

 males can be compared only with the Cardinal in colour, the autumn birds and females 

 only with the female Orioles, but the lack of crest of the Tanagers will easily separate 

 them from the Cardinals and the bill characters from either the Cardinals or Orioles. 



The Tanagers are a typically American family that reaches its highest 

 development in the tropics and is regularly represented in eastern Canada 

 by only one species. As a family the Tanagers are so closely related to 

 the Sparrows that the status of some extralimital species is still undeter- 

 mined. 



