Length: About 5½ inches.

Male: Head and throat deep, purplish blue, becoming lighter on back and above tail; wings and tail a brownish black, edged with blue. Winter plumage, brownish like the female, mottled with blue.

Female: Brown above, darker on wings and tail; no streaks on back; breast grayish, washed and faintly streaked with brown; belly lighter. The female resembles her sparrow relatives, but may be distinguished by a glint of blue in her tail and wings.

Call-note: A sharp chip.

Song: A burst of melody, somewhat like that of a canary, loud, clear, and sweet. It is not remarkable except that it may be heard during the middle of the day and during the heat of midsummer. The bird sings frequently from treetops.

Habitat: In “scrubby” pastures, along roadsides—in trees and bushes.

Range: Eastern North America. Breeds east of the Great Plains from North Dakota to New Brunswick, south from central Texas to Georgia; winters from southern Mexico to Panama.

The Indigo Bunting possesses a brilliant beauty and a sweet voice. A sight of him and his pretty brown mate brings a thrill of pleasure, but he holds no such place in our affections as does the true bluebird. He does not choose to nest close to human dwellings, but prefers overgrown pastures, not too much frequented, where he performs his good office of caterpillar-, canker worm-, and grasshopper-hunting, varying his diet with an abundance of weed seeds.