Home-building is done in small groups of a dozen pairs or less. The iridescent, beautiful males seem to consider manual labor beneath their dignity and contribute only a hoarse series of love notes and the honor of their presence!
They become tame when unmolested, and are one of the common farmyard birds.
Cultivated fruits eaten are more than paid for by destruction of canker and other pests, particularly grubs turned up by the plow.
Western North America from British Columbia and Manitoba, east to Mississippi valley and south to Texas and Lower California.