INDIGO-BIRD. 



101 



till they seem hardly articulate, as if the little minstrel were quite 

 exhausted; and after a pause of half a minute or less, commences 

 again as before. Some of our birds sing only in Spring, and then 

 chiefly in the morning, being comparatively mute during the heat 

 of noon; but the Indigo-bird chants with as much animation under 

 the meridian sun, in the month of July, as in the month of May; 

 and continues his song, occasionally, to the middle or end of Au- 

 gust. His usual note, when alarmed by an approach to his nest, 

 is a sharp chip, like that of striking two hard pebbles smartly to- 

 gether. 



Notwithstanding the beauty of his plumage, the vivacity with 

 which he sings, and the ease with which he can be reared and kept, 

 the Indigo-bird is seldom seen domesticated. The few I have met 

 with were taken in trap-cages; and such of any species rarely sing 

 equal to those which have been reared by hand from the nest. 

 There is one singularity which, as it cannot be well represented in 

 the figure, may be mentioned here, viz. that in some certain lights 

 his plumage appears of a rich sky-blue, and in others of a vivid 

 verdigris green; so that the same bird in passing from one place 

 to another before your eyes, seems to undergo a total change of 

 color. When the angle of incidence of the rays of light, reflected 

 from his plumage, is acute, the color is green, when obtuse blue. 

 Such I think I have observed to be uniformly the case, without 

 being optician enough to explain why it is so. From this, how- 

 ever, must be excepted the color of the head, which being of a very 

 deep blue, is not affected by a change of position. 



The nest of this bird is usually built in a low bush, among 

 rank grass, grain, or clover; suspended by two twigs, one passing 

 up each side ; and is composed outwardly of flax, and lined with 

 fine dry grass. I have also known it to build in the hollow of an 

 apple tree. The eggs, generally five, are blue, with a blotch of 

 purple at the great end. 



The Indigo-bird is five inches long, and seven inches in ex- 



D d 



