This brilliantly colored Sparrow is shy and spends most of its life in southern thickets and cypress swamps. Lack of cover in the arid parts of its range render it more conspicuous but it is far less sociable than its northern relative, the Indigo Bunting. Like this species it sings best in midsummer but usually from a brush pile or thicket. Its notes are less intense and it is not carried away like the Indigo, by any musical ecstasy. It is better known as the "Nonpareil" and is a favorite cage bird in Mexico.
NEST: a compact structure of leaves, bark strips, twigs and grass, lined with fine grass and horsehair. Location very variable — low in thorny thickets or high in trees.
EGGS: 4 to 5; creamy or bluish white, spotted and blotched with chestnut and lavender.
Southeastern United States, from coast of North Carolina, southern Illinois and southern Kansas and Arizona, south thru Gulf States.
A tree between 20 and 30 feet high, distributed from southern Pennsylvania to Tampa, Florida; and thru the Gulf States to southern Arkansas and the Brazos River Valley, Texas.