96 ENGLISH SPARROW 



Indigo Bunting : Cyanospiza cyanea. 



Length 5^ inches. 



Male, general color bright greenish-blue, darkest on the 

 head, brightest on the back. 



Wings and tail black, margined with blue. 



Female, looks like a sparrow; grayish-brown above, whit- 

 ish below, under parts indistinctly streaked. 



Resident (common) from May I to October 15; winters 

 in Central America. 



Indigo-birds are found with the Sparrows in wild 

 bushy fields. The coat of the male is one of the most 

 brilliant blues in nature, but his mate is as brown and 

 plain as her Sparrow companions. The Indigo is 

 sometimes called " Blue Canary," and he is an espe- 

 cially happy, persistent songster, warbling on when the 

 heat of summer days has silenced most birds. Al- 

 though a ground bird, building in a low bush and 

 feeding on worms, caterpillars, and grasshoppers, 

 when not kept below by domestic duties or hunger 

 he mounts to the tallest tree-top and " sings to the 

 passing clouds." 



In nesting season, Indigo-birds are almost always 

 found in the grounds south of the Soldiers' Home 

 bordering Glenwood Cemetery, and they are also 

 heard in the Zoo, particularly near the Columbia 

 Road entrance. 



English Sparrow; House Sparrow: Passer domes- 

 ticus. 



Length 6^4 inches. 



Male, upper parts streaked with black and chestnut; sides 

 of throat white, rest of throat and breast black; white wing- 

 bar. 



Female, without black breast, or white on throat or wings. 



English Sparrows are generally regarded as an un- 

 mitigated nuisance, but in spite of their noise and filth, 



