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 ona 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 isa 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. 
