BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 173 



Oak acorns, berries of nearly all kinds, seeds and grains 

 constitute their food, of which they find an abundance, and in 

 the enjoyment of which they are essentially undisturbed by 

 the gunners. 



Once here, if not mated when they come, they are so soon 

 seen in pairs that it would be difficult to say they were not so 

 when they came. A little after the first of May, perhaps not 

 far from the 10th, they devote themselves to nest-building. Gen- 

 erally on a high bush, or low tree, sometimes on a stump, a log, 

 or even directly on the ground, they construct a platform of 

 small sticks or twigs, on which they place some rootlets, or 

 stems of hay, on which may occasionally be found a few lichens, 

 or leaves. 



Like the nestof the other, or Wild Pigeon, it is a rather frail 

 affair, and only hollowed enough to barely retain the two beau- 

 tiful white eggs which are to be entrusted to it. The general 

 habits of the species are so well known that it would be a work 

 of supererogation to attempt a detailed description of them. 



They linger as long in the autumn as they can obtain their 

 food, which in some years is into November, but as a rule they 

 are mostly gone by the 25th of October. 



I have neither visited any parts of the state, nor corresponded 

 with persons residing in different sections, where this species 

 has not been found fairly common. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Tail feathers fourteen; above, bluish, overlaid with light 

 brownish-olive, leaving the pure blue only on the top of the head, 

 the exterior of the wings, and the upper surface of the tail, which 

 is even slightly tinged with this color; entire head except the 

 vertex, sides of neck, and the underparts generally, light 

 brownish-red. strongly tinged with purple on the breast, be- 

 coming lighter behind, and passing into brownish-yellow on the 

 anal region, tibia, and under tail coverts; sides of the neck with 

 a patch of metallic purplish-red; sides of body and inside of 

 wings, clear light blue; wing coverts and scapulars spotted with 

 black, mostly concealed, and an oblong patch of the same be- 

 low the ear; tail feathers seen from below, blackish, the outer 

 web of the outermost white; the others tipped with the same, 

 the color becoming more and more bluish to the innermost, 

 which is brown; seen from above, there is the same gradation 

 from white to light blue in the tips; the rest of the feather, 

 however, is blue, with a bar of black anterior to the light tip 

 which runs a little forward along the margin and shaft of the 

 feather; bill black; feet yellow. 



Length, 13; wing, 5.75; tail, 6.70. 



Habitat, North America. 



