AVERY BIRD COLLECTION 95 



"This bird is not common in this part of Alabama. His 

 song, which I have heard only once, is very sweet. He 

 seems to be granivorous, as he may be seen along the 

 edges of oat fields, or in the roads at times where grain 

 may be found either in the dung of horses or wasted 

 there when carried to mill. 



"He is very shy for so small a bird. His call note is a 

 chirp like that of the cardinal grosbeak, with this modi- 

 fication : the chirp of the blue grosbeak is to the chirp of 

 the red-bird as the ring of a silver dollar is to the thump 

 of a copper cent or to that of a nickel. 



"The indigo-bird has a note very similar to the chirp 

 of these two grosbeaks, but much feebler. 



"The blue-grosbeak disappears from this part of Ala- 

 bama on the approach of cold weather. " 



Eleven days later a female, whose "stomach contained 

 grains of wheat and debris of insects," was taken in the 

 same locality. 



Early in June, 1888, the Doctor collected a set of 

 four eggs, with nest, from a sweet gum, about three feet 

 from the ground, but unfortunately he neglected to record 

 the exact date. Dimensions of nest: Circumference 

 around rim, 11.50 in. ; outside depth 3 in. ; inside depth, 

 1.50 in. ; outside diameter, 4 in. ; inside diameter, 2.75 in. 

 Materials : "Foundation : dried stems of herbs ; then also 

 woven in, portions of snake shed; then leaves of coarse 

 grass woven in with the leaves of deciduous trees; the 

 whole lined with dry grass stems. This nest was on a 

 pine hill in an open locality a few steps from a path." 



"Common. Summer resident. Breeds." (1891a). 



No. 424. Male. Greensboro. Apr. 18, 1881 (?). W. C. Avery. 



No. 568. Male-iuv. Greensboro. Aug. 12, 1890. W. C. Avery. 



No. 709. Female. Greensboro. Sept. 26; 1890. W. C. Avery. 



No. 710. Female. Greensboro. Sept, 26, 1890. W. C. Avery. 



No. 854. Male. Greensboro. May 23, 1891. W. C. Avery. 



148. PASSERINA CYANEA (Linnams). 



INDIGO BUNTING. 

 "Indigo Bird." "Summer Bluebird" 



The Doctor's first specimen of this species was an adult 

 male taken at Greensboro, June 3, 1876. Its stomach 

 "contained seeds, sand, and small oblong, white bodies 



