1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



251 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 



THE BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND, 



THEIR PAST AND PRESENT HISTORY... .NO. 10. 

 EY S. P. FOWLER. 



The Indigo Bird has not, like many others of 

 our feathered tribes, attracted general notice, at 

 least in the eastern part of INIassachusetts. It is a 

 bird more particularly found in gardens and or- 

 chards, during the breeding season, where, from 

 the top of an old pear tree, the mate will enliven 



and animate by its song, the landscape glowingi _ , ^^ , in^ . 4 • t • i • 



with beauty and fragrance under the rays of a |ogists as the Purple 1 inch or American Lnmet, is 



noon-i' 

 tiie 



or as most persons would say a blueish white, 

 without any spot or blotch whatever. 



The food of the Indigo Bird consists principal- 

 ly of insects, worms, caterpillars and grasshop- 

 pers. They likewise feed upon various _ kinds of 

 seeds, and it is said they can be reared in a cage 

 on the usual diet of the Canary. The_ male bird 

 may be known by its rich blue livery, tinged with 

 verdigris green ; and the quills and tail feathers 

 dusky, edged with greenish blue. The female is 

 yellowish-brown, above, paler beneath. The beau- 

 tiful and cheerful songster known to our ornithol- 



summit of the chimney, or the point of a forked 

 lightning rod. This beautiful bird is, with us, only 

 a summer resident. It passes the winter in trop- 

 ical America, and is first seen in Massachusetts 

 about the 20th of May. The female seldom at- 

 tracks much notice in her humble dress, and is 

 not often seen. She constructs her nest of grass 

 and leaves, and places it in a low bush. There 

 are singular discrepancies amongst ornithologists, 

 in regard to the color and markings of the eggs 



distinctly remember the time, when this bird was 

 not to be found in the vicinity in which we re- 

 side, except in open pine woods or dense cedar pas- 

 tures. The Purple Finch is a very hardy bird, 

 having been found by Doct. Richardson on the 

 banks of the Saskatchewan river. This bird 

 leaves the eastern part of ^lassachusetts for the 

 South, from the first to the middle of October. 

 We noticed this autumn, many lingering after 

 this period and feeding upon th3 berries of the 



of thelndifo Bird. MrT Wilson remarks, the! boney-suckle. In spring they arrive with us ear 

 eggs, generally five, arc blue, with a blotch of i Ij in May, and are seen Iccaing upon the expand 



purple at the end. 



Mr. Audubon, in his octavio edition of 1841, 

 says the female lays from four to six eggs, which 

 are blue, with a spot of purple at the large end. 

 In a note sent to Mr. Audubon by Doctor Brew- 

 er, -syhen speaking of the Indigo Bird, the doctor 

 says the eggs, four in number, are eleven-six- 

 teenths of an inch in length, seven-sixteenths in 

 breadth, and of a uniform white color, without 

 the slightest blotch or mark. lie continues, I 

 have never met with an egg having this purple 

 blotch at the larger end, which you [Audubon] 

 and Wilson mention as existing there, although 

 my observations are taken from the contents of 

 more than eight nests. By way of reply to Dr. 

 Brewer, ^Mr. Audubon says, I have before me at 

 this moment, an egg of the Indigo Bird, procured 

 by myself, which has several dots toward tlie larg- 

 er end, and of which the general color is not 

 pure white, but as described by Nuttall, greenish 

 white, or rather, as I would call it, lightish blue. 

 Mr. Nuttall says, the eggs of the Indigo Bird are 

 about five, and are greenish white, and are with- 

 out spots. Doct. DeKay, in his history of the 

 birds of New York, as given to us in the State 

 Survey, says, when describing the Indigo bird, 

 their nests are placed on some low Ijusli witli 

 white immaculate eggs. 



Mr. Peabody, in his report on the ornithology 

 of Massachusetts, notices the discrepancies in re- 



fard to color and markings of the eggs of the 

 ndigo Bird, and thinks the subject is greatly in 

 want of attention. 



Mr. Giraud, in his Birds of Long Island, says, 

 the eggs of tbe Indigo Bird are usually five in 

 number, and of a bluish color. 



Who can decide when distinguished ornitholo- 

 gists disagree ? We have not the vanity to sup- 

 pose that anything we may olTer, will settle this 

 question, but our own observations upon this sub- 

 ject, — with the eggs of tlic Indigo Bird on a table 

 before us, are these. They arc of a greenish. 



ing flow«r-buds of the elm, and are conspicuous 

 from their beautiful appearance, and fine notes, 

 resembling those of the Canary. The pine forests 

 at the North appear to be the home of this Finch , 

 and this partiality for evergreen trees continues, 

 when it visits our gardens and seeks our protec- 

 tion. It may l)e that the increased cultivation of 

 evergreens within a few years, in our gardens, have 

 served to attract them from their former haunts. 

 It is somewhat singular, from all we can learn, 

 that Wilson, Audubon or Nuttall, do not appear 

 to have ever seen the Purple Finch's eg^s or nest. 

 Mr. Nuttall says, "although several pair of these 

 birds usually pass the summer in this vicinity, 

 [Cambridge] in spite of the utmost diligence, con- 

 tinued for three years, I have never yet been 

 able to discover their nests, although I have seen 

 the female collecting wool from a fence for the 

 purpose. General Dearborn, however, informed me 

 that he had seen the nest of this species [in July. 

 1830] containing young,fixed on the low, horizon- 

 tal branch of a balsam fir, contiguous to a house, 

 and even near a path. The outside appeared to 

 be lined with lichens, and the wliole was neatly 

 and compactly formed. They seem indeed much 

 attached to evergreens, frequenting their shade, 

 during the heat of the day. They sing at vari- 

 ous times, but most vigorously in the morning and 

 evening." 



Bonaparte remarks that much confusion exists 

 in the works of naturalists, respecting those finch- 

 es and bulfinchcs that are tinged with red. And 

 Swainson is almost persuaded that there are two 

 distinct species of these Purple Finches, which 

 not only Wilson, but all modern ornithologists oi' 

 America have confounded under the same name. 



The male American Linnet^ or Purple Finch 

 may be known by the deep crimson on the head 

 and chin, with t!ie breast and rump paler, inclin- 

 ing to rosaceous. 



Several pairs of these birds have built their nests 

 in our neighborhood, the past season. One was 



