478 LAND BIRDS 



flocks separate, each pair going to its chosen nesting site 

 in the furry hemlocks, and house-building begins. Both 

 sexes carry material and weave the walls of the home, 

 which is well hidden and securely fastened among the 

 thick branches. It is very difficult to discover even when 

 you have located the tree, and the birds themselves, al- 

 though not shy, are wary about disclosing this secret. 

 So the bird-lover must be content with lying under the 

 hemlocks and watching the pretty rose-colored male carry- 

 ing food to his mate through the days of incubation ; and 

 listening to his liquid trilling, as the setting sun tinges 

 his breast with a deeper rose, or as at four a. m. he greets 

 another blue day. He makes a welcome bit of color in 

 the sombre woods, and delicious music in their silence. 

 Unless you hear his rival, the Townsend solitaire, who 

 frequents mucli the same haunts, you are quite ready to 

 call him the musician of the mountain tops. 



517 a. CALIFORNIA PURPLE FINCH. — Carpodacus 



purpureas californicus. 



Family : The Finches, Sparrows, etc. 



Length: 5.50-6.25. 



Adult Male: Upjier parts dark madder-pink, clear on rump, deeper and 

 brighter on top of head ; back streaked with dusky ; middle of bell}' 

 and lower tail-coverts white ; remainder of under parts light rose- 

 pink with sides and flanks strongly tinged with brownish and streaked 

 with darker. 



Adult Female: Upper parts grayish olive, heavily streaked with brown ; 

 under parts ashy white, finely streaked ; sides of head with two dis- 

 tinct brownish stripes, one on ear-coverts, the other on each side of 

 throat, — the two separated by a whitish stripe. 



