INDIGO BUNTING. 
99 
although my observations are taken from the contents of more than eight 
nests. , The second brood spoken of above was hatched in September.” 
I have before me at this moment an egg of the Indigo-bird procured by 
myself, which has several dots toward the larger end, and of which the 
general colour is not pure white, but, as described by Nuttall, greenish- 
white, or rather, as I would call it, lightish-blue. 
Distributed throughout the United States during summer. Abundant. 
Migratory. 
Indigo-bird, Fringilla cyanea, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 100. 
Fringilla cyanea, Bonap. Syn., p. 107. 
Indigo-bird, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 473. 
Indigo-bird, Fringilla cyanea , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 377 ; vol. v. p. 503. 
Male in full plumage. 
Bill short, robust, conical, a little bulging, straight, acute ; upper mandi- 
ble broader, slightly declinate at the tip ; gap-line a little declinate at the 
base. Nostrils basal, roundish, partially concealed by the frontal feathers. 
Head rather large. Neck of ordinary size. Body ovate. Feet of ordi- 
nary length, rather slender ; tarsus covered anteriorly with a few scut.ella, 
the uppermost long, posteriorly edged ; toes free, scutellate above ; claws 
slender, compressed, arched, acute. 
Plumage glossy, somewhat silky, blended. Wings of ordinary length, 
the second and third quills longest. Tail of ordinary length, distinctly 
emarginate, of twelve obtuse feathers. 
Bill brownish-black, light blue beneath. Iris dark brown. Feet yellow- 
ish-brown. The general colour is a rich sky-blue, deeper on the head, 
lighter beneath, and in certain lights changing to verdigris-green. The 
quills, larger wing-coverts, and tail-feathers dark brown, margined exter- 
nally with blue. 
Length 54 inches, extent of wings, 7 1 ; bill along the ridge §, along the 
gap nearly 4 ; tarsus I. 
Male in the second year. 
Bill lighter, irides and feet as in the adult. Head, neck and body, blue, 
but of a lighter tint ; tail as in the adult ; wings, including the lesser 
coverts, dull brown, the secondary coverts and some of the quills margined 
with blue. 
Male in the first autumn. 
Bill, irides and feet as in the last. Head and body of a lighter and 
duller blue, interspersed with brown patches ; wings brown, secondary 
coverts tipped with whitish. 
Adult Female. 
