PAINTED BUNTING. 
359 
and by the Americans The Nonpareil. Its gay dress and 
docility of manners have procured it many admirers ; for 
these qualities are strongly attractive, and carry their own 
recommendations always along with them. The low countries 
of the southern states, in the vicinity of the sea, and along 
the borders of our large rivers, particularly among the rice 
plantations, are the favourite haunts of this elegant little bird. 
A few are seen in North Carolina; in South Carolina they 
are more numerous ; and still more so in the lower parts of 
Georgia. To the westward, I first met them at Natchez, on 
the Mississippi, where they seemed rather scarce. Below 
Baton Rouge, along the levee, or embankment of the river, 
they appeared in greater numbers ; and continued to become 
more common as I approached New Orleans, where they 
were warbling from almost every fence, and crossing the road 
before me every few minutes. Their notes very much resemble 
those of the Indigo Bird, (Plate VI. fig. 6,) but want the 
strength and energy of the latter, being more feeble and more 
concise. 
I found these birds very commonly domesticated in the 
houses of the French inhabitants of New Orleans ; appearing 
to be the most common cage bird they have. The negroes 
often bring them to market, from the neighbouring plantations, 
for sale ; ik either in cages, taken in traps, or in the nest. A 
wealthy French planter, who lives on the banks of the 
Mississippi, a few miles below Bayo Fourche, took me into 
his garden, which is spacious and magnificent, to shew me his 
aviary ; where, among many of our common birds, I observed 
several Nonpareils, two of which had nests, and were then 
hatching. 
Were the same attention bestowed on these birds as on the 
Canary, I have no doubt but they would breed with equal 
facility, and become equally numerous and familiar, while the 
richness of their plumage might compensate for their inferiority 
of song. Many of them have been transported to Europe ; 
and I think I have somewhere read, that in Holland attempts 
