PAINTED BUNTING. 95 



motion of the wings, which is rendered necessary by their concave form. 

 It hops on the ground, moving forward with ease, now and then jetting out 

 the tail a little, and, like a true Sparrow, picking up and carrying off on 

 Aving a grain of rice or a crum of bread to some distance, where it may eat 

 in more security. It has a sprightly song, often repeated, which it continues 

 even when closely confined. When the bird is at liberty, this song is 

 uttered from the top branches of an orange-tree, or those of a common briar, 

 and although not so sonorous as that of the Canary, or of its nearer relative, 

 the Indigo Bunting, is not far from equalling either. Its song is continued 

 during the greatest heats of the day, which is also the case with that of the 

 Indigo-bird. 



The nest of this pretty bird is generally placed in a low situation, in an 

 orange-tree, frequently within a few paces of the house, or far from it on the 

 edge of the fences, where briars are convenient. It raises two broods each 

 season. The eggs are four or five, of a beautiful pearly, rather bluish 

 colour, speckled with blackish, and are deposited in a simply constructed 

 nest, lined with fine fibrous roots or horse-hair, and externally formed of fine 

 grass. They readily breed in confinement, if their prison is rendered 

 tolerably comfortable. The young are fed at first in the manner of Canaries, 

 but at the end of ten or twelve days are taught to swallow grains of rice, 

 insects or berries. No sooner are figs or grapes ripe than these birds attack 

 them, feeding for some time almost entirely upon them. Towards evening 

 they also pursue insects on wing. 



Some persons give the name of Nonpareil to this species, but it is more 

 commonly known by the name of Pape, which, in fact, is a general appella- 

 tion given by the inhabitants of Louisiana to all the smaller species of thick- 

 billed birds. 



The Painted Finches do not proceed far eastward, nor, indeed, up the 

 Mississippi, being seldom seen above the city of Natchez, on that river, or 

 farther to the east than the Carolinas. It retires southward in the beginning 

 of October. 



My friend Dr. Bachman has favoured me with the following very 

 interesting notice regarding its change of plumage, which is greatly at 

 variance with Wilson and other writers. "I have kept these birds for 

 many years in aviaries. The males and females of a year old were of a 

 uniform colour, but I have invariably found them to assume their perfect 

 plumage in the second year. This bird could be easily domesticated and 

 multiplied in Europe, in the manner of the Canary. I have had them to 

 raise three broods of young in the year in confinement. The plumage, 

 however, in this state, was never so brilliant as when wild." 



The Chickasaw wild plum, on a twig of which I have represented a 



