FRINUlLLlDvE — THE FINCHES. 



83 



and rocl<y pastures, wliicli I have never noticed. According to Dr. Coues, it 

 is coimnon and breeds as far south as ('olumbia, S. C, and, nccordiujj; to Afr. 

 Mclhvraitli, it is a eoniinon sunnner resident in tiie neighborhood of Hamil- 

 ton, Canada West. Specimens have been procured as far west as Fort lliley 

 in Kansas. It pas.si^i the winter in (tuateniahi, wliere it is (pute abundant, 

 thougli a very large i»roi)ortion of specimens received from there, in collec- 

 tions, are immature birds. It was not found in Vera Cruz by Mr. Sumi- 

 chrast, nor is it given by Mr. Allen as found by him in Western Iowa, while 

 it was common both in Northern Illinois and in Indiana. It was, however, 

 found by Mr. Allen, in Kansas, in considerable numliers, near Leavenworth, 

 in the spring of 1871. It was not met with by ^Ir. Dresser in Southwest- 

 ern Te.xas, though Dr. Woodhouse found it (piite common in the jirairies of 

 that State, where its pleasant song was heard in the tind)er on their edges, 

 or in the thickets on the borders of the streams in the Indian Territory, 

 where it was quite abundant. It was not observed on the jMexican i>ound- 

 ary Sur\'ey. 



These birds were found, by ^Ir. Boucard, abundant throng] lout the State 

 of Oa\aca, Mexico, having been taken l)oth among- the mountains near To- 

 tontepec, and among the hot lowlands near Plaza Vicente. 



According to Wilson, this bird is not noticed in Pennsylvania much, if 

 any, earlier than its first appearance in New England, and it leaves at al)out 

 the same time. He obsei'ved it in great abundance both in South Carolina 

 and Georgia. 



In manners it is active and sprightly, and its song is vigorous and pleas- 

 ant. It is cousidered a better singer than eitlier the riris ov the (Diuntn. It 

 usually stations itself, in singing, on some high position, the top of a tree or 

 of a chimney, where it chants its peculiar and charming song for quite a 

 space of time. Its song consists of a repetition of short notes, at first loud 

 and rapid, but gradually less fre(juent, and becoming less and les.s distinct. 

 It sings with equal animation both in May and duly, and its song may be 

 occasionally heard even into August, and not less during the nooiulay heat 

 of sunnner than in the cool of the morning. Nuttall descrilies its animated 

 song as a lively .strain, conipo.sed of a repetition of .short notes. The most 

 common of its vocal ex])ressions sounds like ii^hc-(iihc-f^hr, rejieated several 

 times. While the female is engaged in the cares of incubation, or just as 

 the brood has appeared, the song of the male is .said to be much shortened. 

 In the village of Candiridge, Nuttall observed one of tliis s]»ecies regularly 

 chanting its song from the point of a forked lightning-rod, on a very tall 

 house. 



The Indigo P)ird usually builds its nest in the centre of a low thick bush. 

 The first nest I ever met with was built in a thick sumach that had grown up 

 at the bottom of a deep excavation, some fifteen feet below the surface, and 

 but two feet above the base of the shrub. This same nest was occupied five 

 successive summers. It was almost wholly built of matting that the birds 



