THE BIRD BOOK 



Blue Orosl^oak 



597. Blue Grosbeak. Guiraca voerulea. 



\ 



%ip^ 



Bluish 



Range. — Southeastern Unit- 

 ed States, breeding from tlie 

 Gulf north to Pennsylvania 

 and Illinois, and casually to /^ 

 New England. 



Smaller than the last two 

 species and deep blue, with 

 wings and tail blackish, and 

 the lesser coverts and tips of 

 greater, chestnut. It is a fairly common spe- 

 cies in the southerly parts of its range, nest- 

 ing most frequently in low bushes or vines 

 in thickets; the nest is made of rootlets, weed 

 stalks and grasses and sometimes leaves. The 

 three or four eggs are bluish white, unmarked. 

 Size .8.5 X .65. Data. — Chatham Co., Ga., June 

 10, 1898. 3 esgs. Nest of roots, leaves and 

 snake skin, lined with fine rootlets, 3 feet from 

 the ground in a small oak bush. 



.')97a. Western Blue Grosbeak. Guiraca cnrulea Inzida. 



Range. — Western United States north to Kansas, Colorado and northern Cal- 

 ifornia. 



Slightly larger than the last and lighter blue;' nests the same and egg not dis- 

 tinctive. 



.'>9S- Indigo Bunting. Passrrina cyanca. 



Range.- -United States, east of the Plains, breeding north to Manitoba and 

 Nova Scotia ; winters south of the United States. 



This handsome species is rich indigo on the 

 head and neck, shading into blue or greenish 

 blue on the upper and under parts. They are 

 very abundant in some localities along road- 

 sides, in thickets and open woods, where their 



song is frequently head, it be' 



ing a very sweet refrain le- 



sembling, somewhat, certatin 



passages from that of the 



Goldfinch. They nest at low 



elevations in thickets or 



vines, building their home of 



grass and weeds, lined with 

 fine grass or hair, it being quite a substantial 

 structure. The eggs, which are laid in Junii 

 or July, are pale bluish white. Size .75 x .52. 



599. I>AZtiLi Bunting. Pa.iserina ama'iui. 



Range. — Western United States, breeding 

 from Mexico to northern United States and the 

 interior of British Columbia; east to Kansas. 



This handsome bird is of the size of riinneu. 

 but is azure blue above and on the throat, thfe 



,366 



Pale bluish wliitf 



Indigo Bunting 



