A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2. Robert Ridgway

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      Gen. Char. Bill deep at the base, compressed; the upper outline considerably curved; the commissure rather concave, with an obtuse, shallow lobe in the middle. Gonys slightly curved. Feet moderate; tarsus about equal to middle toe; the outer lateral toe barely longer than the inner, its claw falling short of the base of the middle; hind toe about equal to the middle without claw. Claws all much curved, acute. Wings long and pointed, reaching nearly to the middle of the tail; the second and third quills longest. Tail appreciably shorter than the wings; rather narrow, very nearly even.

      The species of this genus are all of very small size and of showy plumage, usually blue, red, or green, in well-defined areas. The females plain olivaceous or brownish; paler beneath.

      Sp. Char. Male. Blue, tinged with ultramarine on the head, throat, and middle of breast; elsewhere with verdigris-green. Lores and anterior angle of chin velvet-black. Wing-feathers brown, edged externally with dull bluish-brown. Female. Brown above; whitish, obscurely streaked or blotched with brownish-yellow, beneath; tinged with blue on shoulders, edges of larger feathers, and on rump. Immature males similar, variously blotched with blue. Very young birds streaked beneath. Length, about 5.75 inches; wing, nearly 3.00.

      Hab. Eastern United States to the Missouri; south to Guatemala. Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 379); Cordova (Scl. 1856, 304); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I. 17); Cuba (Cab. J. IV, 8); Costa Rica (Cab. Jour. 1861, 4; Lawr. IX, 103); Vera Cruz, winter (Sum. M. B. S. I, 552).

      In this species, which may be considered the type of the genus, the tail is slightly emarginate; the second quill is longest, the first shorter than the fourth.

      Habits. The common Indigo Bird of the Eastern States is found in nearly uniform and tolerable abundance in various parts of the United States, from the valley of the Missouri to the Atlantic, and from Florida to New Brunswick. It is a summer visitant, but rare, in Eastern Maine, but is common in the western part of the State, where it arrives early in May, and where it breeds. Mr. Allen speaks of it as not very common in the vicinity of Springfield, Mass., arriving there about the middle of May, and breeding in gardens, orchards, and the edges of woods, and making its nests in bushes. It leaves there about the middle of September.

      In the eastern part of the State it is very unequally distributed. In certain localities it has not been met with, but in other favorite places it seems to be quite common, and to be on the increase. In the gardens of Brookline and Roxbury they are comparatively quite abundant. Mr. Maynard gives May 10 as the earliest date of their coming. He also states that in the autumn they are found in flocks, and frequent roadsides, high sandy fields, and rocky pastures, which I have never noticed. According to Dr. Coues, it is common and breeds as far south as Columbia, S. C., and, according to Mr. McIlwraith, it is a common summer resident in the neighborhood of Hamilton, Canada West. Specimens have been procured as far west as Fort Riley in Kansas. It passes the winter in Guatemala, where it is quite abundant, though a very large proportion of specimens received from there, in collections, are immature birds. It was not found in Vera Cruz by Mr. Sumichrast, nor is it given by Mr. Allen as found by him in Western Iowa, while it was common both in Northern Illinois and in Indiana. It was, however, found by Mr. Allen, in Kansas, in considerable numbers, near Leavenworth, in the spring of 1871. It was not met with by Mr. Dresser in Southwestern Texas, though Dr. Woodhouse found it quite common in the prairies of that State, where its pleasant song was heard in the timber on their edges, or in the thickets on the borders of the streams in the Indian Territory, where it was quite abundant. It was not observed on the Mexican Boundary Survey.

      These birds were found, by Mr. Boucard, abundant throughout the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, having been taken both among the mountains near Totontepec, and among the hot lowlands near Plaza Vicente.

      According to Wilson, this bird is not noticed in Pennsylvania much, if any, earlier than its first appearance in New England, and it leaves at about the same time. He observed it in great abundance both in South Carolina and Georgia.

      In manners it is active and sprightly, and its song is vigorous and pleasant. It is considered a better singer than either the ciris or the amœna. It usually stations itself, in singing, on some high СКАЧАТЬ