OF VIRGINIA 247 
seed, we find these birds visiting the patches regularly, 
thus making them a desirable bird to have around one’s 
farm. They depart for the south about August 28th, 
while those coming from further north pass through 
about September 12th to 17th. 
GENUS PASSERINA. 
[598]. Passerina cyanea (Linneus). Indigo Bunting. 
Ranex.—Eastern North America. Breeds chietly in 
Transition and Austral zones east of the Great Plains from 
east central North Dakota, central Minnesota, north- 
western Michigan, southern Ontario, southern Quebee, 
and southern New Brunswick south to central Texas, 
southern Louisiana, central Alabama, and central Georgia ; 
winters from Morelos, Yucatan, and Cuba through Central 
America to Panama; occasional in the Bahamas in migra- 
tion; casual in eastern Colorado, southern Saskatchewan, 
and southern Manitoba. 
In this bird we have one of the most beautiful summer 
residents, well named from the male’s handsome indigo 
dress, and quite the extreme in color from the following . 
species. Second growth bushes bordering our roads and 
fields are his favorite haunts, while the telegraph wires 
seem to have been made expressly for him to perch on 
and pour forth his liquid song. Quite the contrary to 
her highly colored mate, the female is seldom seen on 
the wires, or much in evidence until found sitting on her 
three to four pale bluish, unmarked eggs. The uest is 
a well-made structure, placed in an upright crotch of a 
low bush, blackberry bush or vines, from two to four feet 
above ground, and is composed of fine grasses and weed 
