BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. ooo 
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 isnot 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 or 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 Dougtias 
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 
finda 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 
wre 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. 
