VARIED BUNTING. 

 600. Passerina versicolor. 5^ inches. 



This beautiful species is less common than any others 

 of the genus and has a very restricted range in the 

 United States. The plumage of the male birds varies a 

 great deal; that shown in the accompanying illustra- 

 tion is from a brightly colored specimen. They will 

 average duller than this. These birds frequent thickets 

 or brush-studded pasture land. Their song is described 

 as weaker than that of the Indigo Bunting, but having 

 much of the same character. 



Nest. Built of grasses, bark and fine rootlets; a 

 cup-shaped structure placed in forks of bushes, usually 

 in tangled thickets. The three or four eggs cannot be 

 distinguished from those of the last species. 



Range. The Lower Rio Grande Valley in southern 

 Texas. A sub-species (pulchra) is also found in Lower 

 California and southern Arizona. 



