THE PURPLE FINCH 



Finch Family — Fringillidce 



Length: About 63^4 inches; a little smaller than the English 

 sparrow. 



Adult Male: Body largely raspberry- or rose-red, streaked 

 with brown. For two seasons the male is a brown 

 sparrowlike bird, with a yellowish-olive chin and 

 rump; the third season his body seems to have been 

 washed with a beautiful red, not purple, the color 

 richest on his head, breast, and rump. Head slightly 

 crested; bill thick, with bristles at nostrils; cheeks 

 and back brownish; under parts grayish-white; wings 

 and tail brownish, edged with red; tail forked. 



Female: Decidedly sparrowlike; body grayish-brown, heavily 

 streaked, lighter underneath; patch of light gray ex- 

 tending from eye, another from beak; wings dark 

 grayish-brown, with indistinct gray bands. She is 

 not unlike the song sparrow, except for the ab- 

 sence of the three black spots on breast and 

 throat. 



Call-note: A sharp, metallic chip. 



Song: A clear, sweet, joyous warble. 



Habitat: Woods, orchards, and gardens. 



Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in central and south- 

 ern Canada, and northern United States, in North 

 Dakota, central Minnesota, northern Illinois, and 

 New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, the Pennsylvania 

 mountains, and Long Island; winters from consider- 

 ably north of the southern boundary of its breed- 

 ing-range to the Gulf Coast, from Texas to Flor- 

 ida. 



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