THE INDIGO BUNTING 
By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 27 
Rich color is the chief attribute that sets the Indigo Bunting apart 
from the other members of the tribe of Sparrows and Finches. Blue 
that is decided in tone, and not a bluish gray, is one of the rarest hues 
among the birds of temperature zones; and one may count the really blue 
birds of the eastern United States upon the fingers of one hand. 
This Bunting belongs to the tree-loving and tree-nesting part of his 
tribe, in company with the Grosbeaks and the brilliant 
yellow Goldfinch, whose black cap, wings, and tail- Family 
feathers only enchance his beauty. The Sparrows, of 
sober stripes, nest on or near the ground, and their plumage blends with 
brown grass, twigs, and the general earth-coloring, illustrating very 
directly the theory of color-protection, while birds of brilliant plumage 
invariably keep more generally in the trees. 
In size, the Indigo Bunting ranks with the smaller Sparrows, com- 
ing between the Field and Song Sparrows, and being only slightly larger 
than the Chippy. The female wears a modification of the Sparrow garb, 
the upper parts being ashy brown, without stripes, the under parts grayish, 
very faintly streaked with dull brown ; and the wing-quills and the tail- 
feathers have dark edges and markings. 
When it comes to painting the plumage of the male in words the task 
becomes difficult ; for to use simply the term indigo-blue is as inadequate 
as to say that a bit of water that looks blue in shadow is of the same 
color when it ripples out into full sunlight and catches a dozen reflections 
from foliage and sky. A merely technical description 
would read: Front of head and chin, rich indigo-blue. Plumage 
greener on back and under parts ; wings, dusky brown, 
with blue edges to the coverts; tail-feathers also blue-edged; bill and 
feet dark ; general shape, rounded and Canary-like, resembling the Gold- 
finch. 
In the last of May one of these buntings came to a low bush outside 
my window, and, after resting awhile, for the night before had been 
stormy, dropped to the closely cut turf to feed upon the crumbs left 
where the hounds had been munching their biscuits. I have never seen 
a more beautiful specimen, and the contrast with the vividly green grass 
seemed to develop the color of malachite that ran along one edge of the 
feathers, shifting as the bird moved like the sheen of changeable silk. 
In vain did I search among contemporary writers for a description 
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