BIRDS OF KANSAS. 489 



In the early breeding season the males sing quite sweetly, but 

 they are not constant or late singers, and therefore not highly 

 rated as song birds. 



Their nests are placed in low trees and bushes and are com- 

 posed of coarse, fibrous strippings, grasses, old leaves, bits of 

 newspapers, and other fragmentary substances, and lined with 

 hairs and rootlets. One taken at Wallace, Kansas, June 16th. 

 1885, was built close to the body of a willow tree, on small, 

 twig-like branches, about seven feet from the ground; outside 

 made wholly of narrow strippings of the inner bark of dead 

 cottonwood trees, resting on a foundation of a few old leaves 

 and bits of newspapers, and lined with fine bleached rootlets. 

 Eggs three or four, .85x. 66; bluish white; in form, oval. 



GENUS PASSERINA VIEILLOT. 



"Bill deep at base, compressed; the upper outline considerably curved; the 

 commissure rather concave, with an obtuse, shallow lobe in the middle. Gonys 

 slightly curved. Feet moderate; tarsus about equal to middle toe; the outer 

 lateral toe barely longer than the inner, its claw falling short of the base of the 

 middle; hind toe about equal to the middle without claw. Claws all much 

 curved, acute. Wings long and pointed, reaching nearly to the middle of the 

 tail; the second and third quills longest Tail appreciably shorter than the 

 wings; rather narrow, very nearly even. 



"The species of this genus are all very small in size and of showy plumage, 

 usually blue, red or greeu, in well defined areas. The females, plain olivaceous 

 or brownish; paler beneath." 



Passerina cyanea (LINN.). 



INDIGO BUNTING. 

 PLATE XXIX. 



Summer resident; common in the eastern part of the State; 

 very rare in the western portion. Arrive the last of April to 

 first of May; begin laying the last of May; the bulk leave in 

 September. 



B. 387. E. 248. C. 295. G. 125, 246. U. 598. 



HABITAT. Eastern United States; north into Canada; west 

 to the edge of the Great Plains; south in winter to Cuba, east- 

 ern Mexico and southern Central America; breeding chiefly 

 north of the Gulf States. 



SP. CHAR. "Male: Blue, tinged with ultramarine on the head, throat and mid- 

 dle of breast; elsewhere with verdigris green. Lores and anterior angle of chin 



