INDIGO BIRD. 
237 
the authority of Mr William Bartram, that “ they 
*'oahit the continent and sea-coast islands, from Mexico 
® Nova Scotia, from the sea-coast west beyond the 
n'alachian and Cherokee mountains.” * They are also 
Down in Mexico, where they prohahly winter. Its 
■^'ourite haunts, while with us, are about wardens, fields 
‘ *leep clover, the borders of rroods, and roadsides, 
''here it is frequently seen perched on the fences. In 
'S manners, it is extremely active and neat, and a vigo- 
®"s and pretty good songster. It mounts to the highest 
j P <tf a large tree, and chants for lialf an hour at a time. 
Song is not one continued strain, but a repetition of 
I 'mt notes, comnienciug loud and rapid, and falling, by 
IJmost imperceptible gradations, tor six or eight seconds, 
they seem hardly articulate, as if the little minstrel 
’*''^re quite exhausted; and, after a pause of half a minute 
less, commences again as before. Some of our birds 
only in spring, and then chiefly in the morning, 
comparatively mute during the heat of noon ; hut 
indigo bird chants with as much animation under 
^'e meridian sun, in the month of July, as in the month 
J. lllsy ; and continues his song, occasionally, to the 
^ridle or end of August. His usual note, when alanned 
7 au upproach to his nest, is a sharp c/iip, like that of 
*'jhing two hard pebbles smartly together. 
..Notwithstanding the beauty of bis plumage, the 
j'''acity u ith which he sings, and the ease with which 
can be reared and kept, the Indigo bird is seldom 
domesticated. The few I have met with were 
in trap cages ; and such of any species rarely sing 
Jl'ial to those Avhich have been reared by hand from 
.?® nest. There is one singularity which may be men- 
^'"ned here, viz. that, in some certain lights, his plumage 
.jPpears of a rich sky blue, and in others of a vivid 
crdigris green ; so that the same bird, in passing from 
^ ® place to another before your eyes, seems to undergo 
of 
, ntal change of colour. IVhen the angle of incidence 
the rays of light, reflected from his plumage, is 
♦ Travels, p. 299. 
