96 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



which I took for seeds not matured." After the entry 

 of the specimen the Doctor wrote : 



"This bird is a beautiful blue, which for the want of a 

 better name I have called 'summer blue-bird.' He is 

 found in Alabama during the spring and summer and dis- 

 appears with cold weather. The female has nothing of 

 the beauty of plumage of the male. She can hardly be 

 distinguished from a sparrow as to color." 



Kecording the capture of another specimen, July 6, 

 1886, he writes: 



"C. cyanea is not a rare bird in this locality. The 

 mate doubtless of this very bird, for several weeks past, 

 perched every morning upon the top of a gum near my 

 door, has made his song heard. It nests here." 



April 6, 1887, the Doctor records hearing the song of 

 the first arrival of the season. Oct. 18, 1890, he enters a 

 late record for the species. 



"Abundant. Breeds." (1891a). 



No. 146. Female-ad. Greensboro. May 22, 1889. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 164. Male. Greensboro. June 8, 1889. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 534. . Female. Greensboro. June 26, 1890. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 535. Female-hornot. Greensboro. June 26, 1890. W. C. 

 Avery. 



No. 577. Male-hornot. Greensboro. Aug. 15, 1890. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 578. Male-ad. Greensboro. Aug. 15, 1890. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 648. Female. Greensboro. Sept. 5, 1890. W. C. Avery. 

 N-o. 678. Female. Greensboro. Sept. 15, 1890. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 831. Male. Greensboro. May 4, 1891. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 1058. Male. Greensboro. May -4, 1893. W. C. Avery. 



149. SPIZA AMERICANA (Gmelin). 



DiCKCISSEL. 



"Black-throated Bunting." "Prairie Lark." 



One June 6, 1876, Dr. Avery records his first dickcissel, 

 an adult male taken at Greensboro, as No. 9 of his old 

 series. He remarks: "Stomach contained comminuted 

 fragments of insects, no grain that I could discover. 



"This little bird affects the black lands, cane brake and 

 'prairies.' He is found along the road-sides, where he 

 often builds his nest in the thick foliage of the 'haw,' or 

 other low shrubs and trees. 



"Perched upon the top-most spray of tree or shrub by 

 the roadside, his cheerful, but monotonous notes may be 



