INDIGO BIRD. 379 



They are placed on a plant usually called the Wild Sarsaparillu. It 

 grows in Louisiana, on the skirts of the forests, in low damp places, and 

 along the fields, where the Indigo Birds are to be found. It is a creep- 

 ing plant, and is considered valuable on account of its medicinal proper- 

 ties. 



Fringilla cyanea, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 107. 

 Indigo Bird, Fringilla cyanea, Wils. Amer. Omith. vol. i. p. 100. PI. 4. fig. 5. 

 Male Ch. Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith. vol. ii. PL 2. fig. 3. Female. 



Male in full plumage. Plate LXXIV. Fig. 1. 



Bill short, robust, conical, a little bulging, straight, acute ; upper 

 mandible broader, slightly declinate at the tip ; gap-line a little declinate 

 at the base. Nostrils basal, roundish, partially concealed by the frontal 

 feathers. Head rather large. Neck of ordinary size. Body ovate. 

 Feet of ordinary length, rather slender ; tarsus covered anteriorly with a 

 few scuteUa, the uppermost long, posteriorly edged ; toes free, scutellate 

 above ; claws slender, compressed, arched, acute. 



Plumage glossy, somewhat silky, blended. Wings of ordinary length, 

 the second and third quiUs longest. Tail of ordinary length, distinctly 

 emarginate, of twelve obtuse feathers. 



Bill brownish-black, light blue beneath. Iris dark brown. Feet 

 yellowish-brown. The general colour is a rich sky-blue, deeper on the 

 head, lighter beneath, and in certain lights changing to verdigris-green. 

 The quills, larger wing-coverts, and tail-feathers, dark brown, margined 

 externally with blue. 



Length 5\ inches, extent of wings 7^ ; bill along the ridge j, along 

 the gap nearly ^ ; tarsus |. 



Male in the second year. Plate LXXIV. Fig. S. 



Bill lighter, irides and feet as in the adult. Head, neck and body, 

 blue, but of a lighter tint ; tail as in the adult ; wings, including the 

 lesser coverts, dull brown, the secondary coverts and some of the quills 

 margined with blue. 



Male in the first autumn. Plate LXXIV. Fig. % 



Bill, irides and feet as in the last. Head and body of a lighter and 

 duller blue, interspersed with brown patches ; wings brown, secondary 

 coverts tipped with whitish. 



