264 INDIGO BIRD. 



wings black, edged with light blue, and becoming brownish 

 towards the tips; lesser coverts light blue; greater black, 

 broadly skirted with the same blue; tail black, exteriorly 

 edged with blue; bill black above, whitish below, somewhat 

 larger in proportion than Finches of the same size usually are, 

 but less than those of the genus Emberiza, with which Pen- 

 nant has classed it, though I think improperly, as the bird has 

 much more of the form and manners of the genus Fringilla, 

 where I must be permitted to place it; legs and feet blackish 

 brown. The female is of a light flaxen colour, with the wings 

 dusky black, and the cheeks, breast, and whole lower parts a 

 clay colour, with streaks of a darker colour under the wings, 

 and tinged in several places with bluish. Towards fall the male 

 while moulting becomes nearly of the colour of the female, and 

 in one which I kept through the winter, the rich plumage did 

 not return for more than two months; though I doubt not had 

 the bird enjoyed his liberty and natural food under a warm sun 

 this brownness would have been of shorter duration. The usual 

 food of this species is insects and various kinds of seeds. 



