INDIGO BUNTING. 99 



although my observations are taken from the contents of more than eight 

 nests. The second brood spoken of above was hatched in September." 



I have before me at this moment an egg of the Indigo-bird procured by 

 myself, which has several dots toward the larger end, and of which the 

 general colour is not pure white, but, as described by Nuttall, greenish- 

 white, or rather, as I would call it, lightish-blue. 



Distributed throughout the United States during summer. Abundant. 

 Migratory. 



Indigo-bird, Fringilla cyanea, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 100. 



Fringilla cyanea, Bonap. Syn., p. 107. 



Indigo-bird, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 473. 



Indigo-bird, Fringilla cyanea, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 377; vol. v. p. 503. 



Male in full plumage. 



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 scutella, 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 quills longest. Tail of ordinary length, distinctly 

 emarginate, of twelve obtuse feathers. 



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

 ish-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 exter- 

 nally with blue. 



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

 gap nearly ^; tarsus f . 



Male in the second year. 



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. 



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. 



Adult Female. 



