310 FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



KEY TO ADULT MALE CARPODACrS. 



1. Tail emarginate. 



2. Top of head strikingly brighter than rump. 



3. Under tail coverts conspicuously streaked . . . cassini, p. 311. 

 3'. Under tail coverts not conspicuously streaked. Eastern United 



States . . purpureus, p. 310. 



2'. Top of head about color of rump .... californicus, p. 310. 

 1'. Tail even. 



2. Wings longer, feet smaller frontalis, p. 312. 



2'. Wings shorter, feet larger dementis, p. 313. 



Subgenus Carpodacus. 

 517. Carpodacus purpureus (GmeL). PURPLE FINCH. 



Like C. p. californicus, but wing longer, tail shorter ; adult male lighter, 

 rump paler, upper parts less uniform ; adult female lighter, less uniform, 

 and less greenish. 



Distribution. Eastern North America, breeding from Hudson Bay to 

 Pennsylvania ; in winter south to Gulf coast ; accidental in Colorado. 



Mr. Anthony shot a female purple finch at Denver, Nov. 15, 1885. 



517a. Carpodacus purpureus californicus Baird. CALIFOR- 

 NIA PURPLE FINCH. 



Adult male. Upper parts dark dull madder pink, wine purple on head 

 and paler, more pinkish on rump ; back streaked ; under parts 

 lighter rose pink and fading to unstreaked white on middle of 

 belly and under tail coverts , sides and flanks usually strongly 

 washed with brownish and broadly streaked with darker ; tail 

 Fig 395 much shorter than wing, deeply emarginate. Adult female : 

 upper parts olivaceous, heavily streaked with brown ; under 

 parts whitish, narrowly streaked ; side of head with white stripe crossing 

 brown of ear coverts and side of throat. Young : similar to female, but 

 colors duller and markings less distinct, edgings of wing feathers more 

 buffy or tawny. Male : length (skins). 5.20-6.10, wing 3.03-3.20, tail 2.28- 

 2.43, bill .42-.40. Female: length (skins) 5.09-5.84, wing 2.95-3.10, tail 

 2.10-2.33, bill .41-.49. 



Remarks. The male California finch may be distinguished from the 

 house finch by its under parts, w r hich are streaked only on the sides. It 

 differs from the Cassin finch in having^rown and rump about the same 

 color, and the back not strikingly streaked. The female California differs 

 from the female house finch in being strongly olivaceous above, and having 

 a white stripe on the side of the head through the brown area, and its 

 tail much shorter than wing, and deeply emarginate. The female Cassin 

 is more sharply streaked on the back with darker brown streaks. 



Distribution. - - Breeds in mountains in Transition and Upper Sonoran 

 zones of the Pacific coast region, from British Columbia south ; migrates 

 to southern California and Arizona. 



Nest. A rather thin, fiat structure, composed largely of fine rootlets and 

 grasses, placed on horizontal branches of trees. Eggs : 2 to 4, greenish blue, 

 or bluish green, finely speckled on larger end with black and dark brown. 



The California purple finch is a bird of higher breeding range and 

 less domestic nature than its relative the house finch. In central 

 California, Mr. Belding says, it is common from 3000 to 5000 feet in 

 summer, though of course it comes lower in winter. In Los Angeles 



