The female lays from four to six eggs, which are blue, with a spot or two of purple at the larger end. It is formed of coarse grasses, hemp stalks, and flax, and is lined with slender grasses. In all cases its composition is the same but when amongst grass, clover, or briars, it is attached to two or three of the stalks by its sides. The nest of the Indigo-bird is usually fixed amongst the rankest stalks of weeds or crass, now and then amongst the stems of a briar, or even in a small hollow in a decayed tree. A similar alteration is observed to take place in Painted Finches which have been kept in cages for a certain period, as well as in the Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, and in the Bulfinch, Chaffinch, and other European birds. Should the birds be caught when in full plumage, they gradually lose their brilliant tints, which at length become extremely dull. I have often seen males two years old which were still much inferior in the beauty of their plumage to those which had passed through three springs. The blue increases in extent, and acquires a deeper tint, as the age of the bird advances. The males, in the first spring, and not unfrequently during the first autumn, are mottled with dull light blue, interspersed among the original deep buff of their earlier stage. The female continues in the same very humble vesture which nature first accorded to her. It requires three years to attain this perfect state. It is highly glossy, and changes from the brightest azure to green, when placed in a strong light. When the male of the species now before you is in full plumage, the richness of his apparel cannot fail to attract and please the eye of any observer. The Indigo-bird is an active and lively little fellow, possesses much elegance in his shape, and also a certain degree of firmness in his make, which renders him equally a favourite with the Painted Finch, although he does not possess the variegated plumage of the latter. The true reason of this, however, is, that the young birds of both sexes resemble the mother during the first season. Some persons have thought that this practice was changed towards the latter part of summer, when, by a casual observer, only the females are to be seen. The whole of this parade is performed by the male, which is alone to be seen, the female at this season keeping amongst the grass or the briars along the fields, where her humble plumage hides her in a great measure from observation. The bird now and then launches into the air, to cross a field, and sings until it has espied a favourite spot amongst the clover, when it immediately becomes silent and dives to the ground. The whole consists of eight or ten notes. Its song is at first loud and clear, falling in cadences to a very low key. The highest top of a detached tree is, however, preferred for this purpose, and the Indigo-bird is to be observed perched on this pinnacle, singing at short intervals for half an hour at a time. It is not a forest bird, but prefers the skirts of the woods, the little detached thickets in and along the fields, the meadows, the gardens, and orchards, and is frequently seen hopping along, or perched on a fence, from which it does not disdain to send forth its pretty little song. It spreads far and wide over the United States, extending from the borders of our Atlantic shores to those of our great lakes. The Indigo-bird arrives in the Southern States from the direction of Mexico, along with its relative the Painted Finch, and is caught in trap-cages, but with more difficulty than the latter bird. Domingo to the Ground Dove, which, however, is seldom seen near New Orleans. They made an exception, however, in favour of the Rice-bird, which they honoured with the name of Ortolan, an appellation given in the Island of St. This is in accordance with the general practice of the first settlers of that State, who named all the Finches, Buntings, and Orioles, Papes and all the Warblers and Fly-catchers, Grassets. The species here presented for inspection is best known to the Creoles of Louisiana by the name of Petit Papebleu.
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