[Illustration 368: Blue Grosbeak.] [Illustration: Bluish white.] [Illustration: Pale bluish white.] [Illustration: Indigo Bunting.] [Illustration: left hand margin.] Page 367 breast being brownish and the rest of the underparts, white. It is the western representative of the Indigo Bunting, and its habits and nesting habits are in all respects the same as those of that species, the nests being made of twigs, grasses, strips of bark, weeds, leaves, etc. The eggs are like those of the last, pale bluish white. Size .75 × .55. 600. VARIED BUNTING. _Passerina versicolor_. Range.--Mexico and north to southern Texas. The general color of this odd bird is purplish, changing to bright blue on the crown and rump, and with a reddish nape. They are quite abundant in some localities along the Lower Rio Grande, where they nest in bushes and tangled under brush, the nests being like those of the last species, and rarely above five feet from the ground. The eggs are pale bluish white, three or four in number, and laid during May or June. Size .75 × .55. 600a. BEAUTIFUL BUNTING. _Passerina versicolor pulchra._ Range.--Southern Lower California. Slightly smaller but very similar to the last; eggs will not differ. 601. PAINTED BUNTING. _Passerina ciris._ Range.--South Atlantic and Gulf States; north to Illinois in the interior. Without exception, this is the most gaudily attired of North American birds, the whole underparts being red, the head and neck deep blue, the back yellowish green, and the rump purple, the line of demarcation between the colors being sharp. They are frequently kept as cage birds but more for their bright colors than any musical ability, their song being of the character of the Indigo Bunting, but weaker and less musical. They are very abundant in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, where they nest usually in bushes or hedges at low elevations, but occasionally on branches of tall trees. Their nests are made of weeds, shreds of bark, grasses, etc., lined with fine grass, very much resembling that of the Indigo. Their eggs are laid in May, June or July, they frequently raising two broods; they are white or pale bluish white, speckled with reddish brown. Size .75 × .55. [Illustration 369: Pale bluish white.] [Illustration: Lazuli Bunting.] [Illustration: Pale bluish white.] [Illustration: White.] [Illustration: Varied Bunting.] [Illustration: right hand margin.] Page 368 602. SHARPE'S SEED-EATER. _Sporophila morelleti morelleti_. Range.--Eastern Mexico, breeding north to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.