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3874 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
violet tint; anal region and under tail coverts, bluish-white; scapulars, inner tertials, 
and middle of back, with an olive-brown tinge; the wing coverts, scapulars, and inner 
tertials, with large oval spots of blue-black on the outer webs, mostly concealed, except 
on the latter; primaries blackish, with a border of pale-bluish tinged internally with 
red; middle tail feathers brown; the rest pale-blue on the outer web, white inter- 
nally; each with a patch of reddish-brown at the base of the inner web, followed by 
another of black; sides and back of neck richly glossed with metallic golden-violet; 
tibia bluish-violet; bill black; feet yellow. 
The female is smaller; much duller in color; more olivaceous above; beneath, 
pale-blue instead of red, except a tinge on the neck; the jugulum tinged with 
olive; the throat whitish. 
The blue of the side of the head extends to the throat and chin; the upper part 
of the back and lesser coverts are of a darker blue than the head and rump; the 
inner primaries are more broadly margined with light-blue, which tapers off to 
the end; the axillars and under surface of the wing are light-blue; the longest 
scapulars have the black on both webs; there is no blue on the outer web of the first 
tail feather, which is white, and the inferior surface of the tail generally is white. 
In some specimens the entire head all round is blue. 
The immature male varies in having most of the feathers of the head and body. 
margined with whitish. - 
Length of male, seventeen inches; wing, eight and fifty one-hundredths inches; 
tail, eight and forty one-hundredths inches. 
HIS bird has become of late years rather scarce in 
New England; so much so, that, in localities where it 
was formerly abundant, it is now seen only occasionally in 
small flocks of a dozen or fifteen. It is a resident of these 
States through a greater part of the year; only absenting 
itself in the most severe portion of winter, when its food is 
usually covered with snow. It depends principally upon 
acorns and beechnuts for subsistence, and is most abundant 
in localities where these nuts are found. It also frequents 
grain-fields, where it gleans among the stubble and weeds ; 
and, when berries are in season, it feeds plentifully upon 
them, and it is at that time when the greater number are 
seen in New England. 
Early in May, the birds, although associating still in com- 
munities, as in sections where they are more abundant, 
separate into pairs, and build their nest. This is placed in 
a forked branch of a tree, usually in a swamp or thick 
wood. It is constructed of twigs and leaves, which are 
loosely arranged into a frail structure hardly strong enough 
