FINCHES, SPARROWS, BUNTINGS: LAZULI BUNTING 679 
quoise-blue changing to greenish blue, darker and duller on middle of back where 
fresh feathers are margined with rusty; wings and tail blackish with blue edgings 
and wings with two white bars; breast and sometimes sides brownish; rest of under¬ 
parts white. Adult female: Upperparts flaxen-brown, back sometimes streaked, 
and rump tinged with greenish blue; wings and tail dusky with greenish blue edg¬ 
ings, two wing bars buffy; anterior underparts pale buffy, deeper on chest and 
fading to white on belly. Young in Juvenal plumage: Grayish brown above, whitish 
tinged with buff below, breast usually obscurely streaked. 
Range. —Breeds in Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones from southern British 
Columbia, southern Alberta, southeastern Saskatchewan, Montana, and western 
North Dakota south to western Texas, northern New Mexico, Arizona (probably 
breeds) and southern California; winters in Mexico south to Cape San Lucas and 
Valley of Mexico. 
State Records. —In the light of the commonness of the Lazuli Bunting in 
Colorado, its records for New Mexico are surprisingly few. There seem to be only 
three sure breeding records, one at Fort Wingate, where nearly grown young were 
found, June 29,1905 (Hollister); [one on the Pecos River at about 7,000 feet, where 
a pair were feeding young in July, 1916 (Scott); one at Santa Fe, where a nest 
with eggs was found, June 13, 1921, in willows on the river bank at 7,100 feet 
(Jensen). An adult female was taken and two others seen with her in Silver City, 
May 1, 1925 (Kellogg)]. A pair v r as noted at Rinconada May 3, 1904 (Surber); 
it was seen at Santa Fe May 6, 1903 (Merriam); [one was seen, May 6, 1920, at a 
tank 15 miles southwest of Hachita (Ligon)]; it was noted near Santa Rosa between 
May 19 and June 8, 1903 (Surber); and several were seen near Taos July 10, 1904 
(Bailey). One was seen August 8, 1883, at Willis, 7,S00 feet (Henshaw)—the 
highest record for the State—and it has been noted at Fort Stanton (Henry), 
Shiprock (Gilman), Apache (Anthony), and Albuquerque (Bailey). 
It winters south of the United States, and most of the birds have left New 
Mexico by the end of August. A late record is that of the specimen taken Sep¬ 
tember 16, 1851, at Zuni (Woodhouse).—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Usually near water, often attached to upright stalks of weeds, or in 
rose bushes, sage, willows, manzanitas, and other bushes; made of inner bark and 
plant fibers, and lined sometimes with hair. Eggs: 3 or 4, plain bluish white or 
pale greenish blue; sometimes spotted. 
Food. —“The products of the farm seldom enter into its diet, while among its 
customary food may be found the seeds of troublesome weeds and many noxious 
insects including the alfalfa weevil” (Kalmbach). The codling moth is also eaten 
(McAtee). 
General Habits. —Though not interested in sagebrush, the beautiful 
blue and brown Lazuli Bunting, who has a preference for “fertile 
valleys” and brooksides, is attracted by wild rose, wild plum, and goose¬ 
berry thickets, willows, alders, and chapparral. Here he gives his 
call, a peremptory quit or a less excited cluck , and sings his bright 
musical finch song, with a burr that reminds one of the pretty brogue 
of the Lark Sparrow. He was singing gaily in the wild plum and willow 
thickets bordering the irrigation ditches near Taos at the time of 
our visit. His nest, which is near the ground, it is interesting to learn, 
when abandoned has sometimes been utilized by his little fur-clad 
neighbors, the dainty white-footed mice. 
