375 
FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 
599. Cyanospiza amcena (Say). Lazuli Bunting. 
Adult male. bpper parts bright turquoise blue , changing to greenish 
blue, darker and duller on middle of back; wings with two white bars; 
breast and sometimes sides brownish; belly white. Adult female: upper 
parts grayish brown, tinged with blue on rump ; back sometimes streaked; 
wing bars dingy; anterior lower parts pale buffy, deeper on chest, fading 
to white on belly and lower tail coverts. Young: like female, but with¬ 
out blue tinge on rump, and chest and sides usually streaked. Male: 
length (skins) 5.01-5.54, wing 2.78-3.01, tail 2.07-2.27, bill .39-.41. Fe¬ 
male: length (skins) 4.91-5.38, wing 2.59-2.83, tail 2.00-2.31, bill .36-.41. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and Upper Sonoran zones of the 
western. United States from Kansas to California; and from British 
Columbia to Arizona and Texas; migrates to Lower California and the 
Valley of Mexico. 
Nest. — Usually near water in weeds, willows, manzanitas, and other 
bushes. Eggs : 3 or 4, plain bluish white, or pale greenish blue. 
The natural home of the blue-coated, brown-breasted lazuli is in 
the chaparral of warm valleys like those of southern California or in 
village shrubbery in climates like that of the Salt Lake plain, but like 
the green-tailed towhee it follows the chaparral to the higher levels, 
and though nominally a Transition and Upper Sonoran zone bird, is 
sometimes found in willows of the Canadian zone. In the Sierra 
above Donner the middle of July we found it as high as 7900 feet, 
singing gayly in a patch of willows in a tiny mountain meadow 
surrounded by firs and overhung by snowbanks; and one of the 
hardy little fellows has even been reported from Fremont Pass. 
The song of the lazuli is of the bright, musical finch type, and like 
that of Oreospiza and Chondestes has a marked burr. The call-note 
is an emphatic quit' or sometimes chack. 
Though less demonstrative than the house finch, the lazuli some¬ 
times spreads his blue feathers before his mate in pretty gallantry ; 
and as a parent, though not boldly aggressive, he is watchful and 
devoted, singing on his way to the nest even with a bill full of 
insects. 
600. Cyanospiza versicolor (Bonap.). Varied Bunting. 
Upper mandible curved. Adult male in summer: forehead and rump 
bright bluish purple, or purplish blue ; back of neck bright red, changing 
to purplish red on middle of back ; under parts plum red fading to plum 
purple on belly. Adult female in summer: upper parts brownish, tinged 
with olive and sometimes with bluish, becoming dull bluish on rump; 
wings and tail with gray or blue edgings; under parts dull whitish and 
brown. Adult male in winter : color of crown, back, and scapulars partly 
obscured by grayish brown tips to feathers; under parts with buffy tips. 
Adult female in winter: browner. Young: brown; wing with buffy 
bands; under parts whitish medially, brown on chest and sides. Male: 
length (skins) 4.55-5.46, wing 2.49-2.80, tail 1.97-2.26, bill .37-44. Fe¬ 
male : length (skins) 4.44-5.38, wing 2.39-2.55, tail 1.93-2.10, bill .37-.41. 
Distribution. — From southern Arizona and the valley of the Lower 
Rio Grande in Texas south to Lower California and Guatemala. 
