404 



PAINTED BUNTING. 



and neck violet: orbits red: upper part of the 

 back and scapulars yellow-green : lower part, 

 rump, and all the under side, red: lesser wing- 

 coverts violet-brown, with a red tinge : greater 

 coverts dull green : quills brown, some of them 

 with greenish edges, others red : tail brown ; the 

 two middle feathers reddish, and the rest edged 

 with that colour : legs brown. Female above dull 

 green : beneath yellow-green squills brown, edged 

 with green : tail brown, variegated w r ith green. 



As these birds do not obtain their full plumage 

 till the third year, there are scarcely two to be 

 found quite alike : in the first year both sexes are 

 brown ; in the second the male has a blue head, 

 and the rest of the plumage blue-green, and the 

 wings and tail brown, edged with blue-green : at 

 that time the female inclines to blue. There is a 

 variety of this bird, which has all the under parts 

 yellowish, with the exception of a small red spot 

 on the breast ; the whole of which disappears, and 

 turns to whitish after the following moult. 



This bird inhabits various parts of America, 

 from North Carolina to Guiana, and is one of the 

 most beautiful of the genus : it builds its nest in 

 the orange trees, and will feed on millet, succory, 

 and other seeds ; it has a very delicate and sooth- 

 ing song, which it delivers in a soft and warbling 

 tone : it is often bred in Holland, and occasionally 

 in England, in the manner of Canaries \ and will 

 live in confinement eight or ten years. The Spa- 

 niards call it Mariposa^ and the English Non- 

 pareil. 



