BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 335 



tions throughout the State. On its first arrival it will be found 

 in rather low brush, or thickets in the woods in the vicinity of 

 streams or swampy marshes and in parties of perhaps half a 

 dozen mates who vie with each other in delightful song. A few 

 days later and the females have come, but when and how, is more 

 than has been reliably recorded. It is not very long before the nest 

 is jointly built of patent sparrow material, weeds, stalks, 

 leaves and grasses lined with fine grades of the latter. It may 

 be on the ground, or in a low bush, or even a low tree. From 

 four to five eggs constitute their "clutch," variously marked, 

 the ground color grayish, or bluish-white and thinly scattered 

 spots of reddish-brown, increased to confluent splotches of 

 umber-brown, mostly at the greater end. I think that as a 

 general thing they raise three broods of young, Mr. J. W. 

 Bostwick found a well identified nest of four eggs on the 25th 

 of April, near Pig's Eye, an unromantic name oi a romantic 

 and eminently historic suburb of St. Paul. Mr. E. P. Her- 

 man, found young birds in the nest unable to fly on the 24th of 

 August. 



I deem it one of the most numerous of the fringilline birds 

 breeding in Minnesota. It is everywhere equally abundant in 

 the brushy woodland districts which I have visited, from Moor- 

 head to Albert Lea, and from the St. Croix to Big Stone lake. 

 Mr. P. Lewis found it "everywhere in Grant and Douglas 

 counties,." Mr. Washburn reported it abundant everywhere 

 in the Red river valley in August, and still represented at 

 Dead lake October 10th. It has been my own experience to 

 find a remnant of them still in the vicinity of Minneapolis as 

 late as the 10th of November, but the larger portion are gone 

 by the 25th of October, as a general rule. 



Their food consists of insects, wild rice and grass-seeds. 

 When flushed they seldom seek the shelter of trees, but skulk 

 from one thicket to another and flirt their tails vigorously while 

 flying. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Middle of the crown uniform chestnut; forehead black; super- 

 ciliary streak, sides of head and back and sides of neck, ash; a 

 brown stripe behind the eye; back broadly streaked with black. 

 Beneath whitish, tinged with ashy anteriorly, especially across 

 the breast, and washed with yellowish-brown on the sides. 

 Wings and tail strongly tinged with rufous; tertials black, the 

 rufous edgings changing abruptly to white towards the end. 



Length, 5.75; wing 2.40. 



Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 



