218 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
part of the Deck a blue-slate color, the lower part 
and sides of the neck changeable gold, green, and 
purplish-crimson ; the ground color is slate, mingled 
with white, pale red, black, and brown. 
“ The nest is made of a few dry, slender twigs, 
carelessly put together, and so shallow that when the 
young are half grown they can easily be seen from 
below. The eggs are pure white, but only one young 
one is ever said to be found at once in a single nest. 
Ninety or a hundred nests have been seen together 
in one tree, the beech tree being a favorite one with 
them on account of the nuts, of which they are very 
fond. They also like acorns, buckwheat, hempseed, 
Indian corn, and various kinds of berries. 
“ The young, when beginning to fly, confine them- 
selves to the under part of the tall woods where there 
is no brush, and where nuts and acorns are abundant, 
‘ and seem like a prodigious torrent rolling along 
through the woods, every one striving to be in the 
front. Vast numbers of them are shot while in this 
situation. In a few minutes they will beat all the 
nuts from a tree with their wings, while all is a 
scramble, both above and below, for the same/ 
These young ones are so very fat in the West and 
South-west that the Indians and many of the whites 
melt down the fat for domestic purposes, in place of 
butter and lard. 
