INDIGO BUNTING. 



conclusion that the key was F. I have taken the liberty 

 of slurring the notes. 



I made a somewhat similar record at the railroad depot 

 of Campton, N. H., August 15, 1901 (this shows how 

 late the little fellow sings), and there appeared to be no 

 question about the key; it was B flat. 



En 



j ^ 



fite is d very ^fr continuation 



of Mr Chen e \/'s Jf- birds, theme. 



I 



3 



i 



There is in this song, as there is in almost every Bunting's 

 song, a particular note which is burred. 



Of all the birds belonging to the Finch Family this is 

 the one whose song sounds most like that of the Canary, 

 though I must except, to a certain degree, the Goldfinch. 

 But quite unlike the Canary, the Indigo Bunting never 

 gives the rapidly repeated note which is generally called 

 a trill, or any complication of bubbling tones. His is 

 the simplest kind of a performance, brief, and at the 

 same time full of beauty and good cheer. He is classed 

 among those immensely useful birds which destroy not 

 only an infinite number of injurious beetles and bugs, 

 but also an incalculable amount of weed seed. Although 

 in the vicinity of my summer home in Campton he is 

 most frequently seen at the top of some gray birch, 

 or the wild cherry-tree, he is often found, late in the 

 season, hunting for seeds on the roadside. 



Mr. F. E. L. Beal in writing about the annual destruc- 

 tion of weed seed by the Junco in the State of Iowa, 

 says: " Upon the basis of one-fourth of an ounce of seed 

 eaten daily by each bird, and supposing that the birds 



139 



