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.
NEST: of weeds, bark and rootlets on a strong foundation of twigs and mud; located in low bushes; more rarely, 20 or 30 feet up in trees.
EGGS: 5–8; pale green or gray marked with erratic lines and spots of sepia.
Western North America from British Columbia and Manitoba, east to Mississippi valley and south to Texas and Lower California.
A tree up to 60 feet high distributed thru central part of United States.