•Erythroid precursors at various stages of maturation.  Basophilic normoblasts are present at the center of the field.  Polychromatophilic normoblasts and orthochromic normoblasts are present near the bottom of the field.  As erythroid precursors mature, the cell size and nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio decrease, and the chromatin becomes progressively more condensed.  The cytoplasm changes color from deep blue to gray-blue to gray-pink as the hemoglobin content increases.