Cleophes

In The General’s Watch, readers get a more personal introduction to the “bluebird” Savvy encountered in book one, Witness to the Revolution. However, never trust a first-person narrator—sometimes they are wrong, sometimes they lie. In the second book, Jonathan acknowledges his connection to Cleophes and tells Savvy that the little bird is a Tanagra cyanea, which was the original scientific name for indigo buntings.

Binary nomenclature (aka scientific names) was invented by Swedish biologist and physician Carl Linnaeus[a] (May 10, 1707 – January 10, 1778), which formalized a developing methodology for classifying animals and plants. The first edition of his work, Systema Naturae was only twelve pages long and was printed in the Netherlands in 1735. Twelve editions containing thousands of entries were written during his lifetime and then expanded upon afterwards.

So, while The Enlightened saga uses the original nomenclature, today, the indigo bunting is classified as Passerina cyanea. They are a bug- and seed-eating member of the cardinal family. During their breeding season, they are found in Northern America between southern Canada and northern Florida, then migrate to South America during our winter months. Indigo buntings can be found in farmland and open woodlands.

Easter Egg # 4