PAINTED BUNTING. ^1 



are of a fine green olive above, and dull yellow below. The 

 females undergo little or no change, but that of becoming of 

 a more brownish cast. The males, on the contrary, are long 

 and slow in arriving at their full variety of colours. In the 

 second season, the blue on the head begins to make its appear- 

 ance, intermixed with tbe olive green : the next year, the 

 yellow shews itself on the back and rump ; and also the red, 

 in detached spots, on the throat and lower parts. All these 

 colours are completed in the fourth season, except, sometimes, 

 that the green still continues on the tail. On the fourth and 

 fifth season, the bird has attained his complete colours, and 

 appears then as represented in the plate (fig. 1). No depend- 

 ence, however, can be placed on the regularity of this change 

 in birds confined in a cage, as the want of proper food, sun- 

 shine, and variety of climate, all conspire against the regular 

 operations of nature. 



The nonpareil is five inches and three quarters long, and 

 eight inches and three quarters in extent ; head, neck above, 

 and sides of the same, a rich purplish blue; eyelid, chin, and 

 whole lower parts, vermilion ; back and scapulars, glossy 

 yellow, stained with rich green, and in old birds with red ; 

 lesser wing-coverts, purple; larger, green; wings, dusky red, 

 sometimes edged with green ; lower part of the back, rump, 

 and tail-coverts, deep glossy red, inclining to carmine ; tail, 

 slightly forked, purplish brown (generally green) ; legs and 

 feet, leaden gray; bill, black above, pale blue below; iris of 

 the eye, hazel. 



The female (fig. 2) is five and a half inches long, and eight 

 inches in extent ; upper parts, green olive, brightest on the 

 rump ; lower parts, a dusky Naples yellow, brightest on the 

 belly ; and tinged considerably on the breast with dull green> 

 or olive ; cheeks, or ear-feathers, marked with lighter touches ; 

 bill, wholly a pale lead colour, lightest below ; legs and feet, 

 the same. 



The food of these birds consists of rice, insects, and various 

 kinds of seeds that grow luxuriantly in their native haunts. 



