92 THE CASSIN PURPLE FINCH. 



No. 33- 



CASSIN'S PURPLE FINCH. 



A. O. v. No. 51S. Carpodacus cassinii J laird. 



Synonym. — Cassin's Finch. 



Description. — .hliilt male: Crown chill crimson; back and scapulars vinace- 

 ous mixed with brownish and sharply streaked with dusky ; wings and tail dusky 

 with more or less edging of vinaceous ; remaining plumage chiefly dull rosy, 

 passing into white on belly and crissum ; under tail-coverts white streaked with 

 dusky. Adult female: Everywhere (save on wings, tail and lower abdomen) 

 sharply streaked with dusky, clearly, on a white ground, below ; above on an olive- 

 gray or olive-huffy ground. Immature male: Like female in plumage and indis- 

 tinguishable. Length of adult 6.50-7.00 ( 165.1-177.8) ; wing 3.62 (92) ; tail 2.56 

 (65); bill .50 (12.6); tarsus .jt, (18.5). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size: red of crown contrasting with back dis- 

 tinctive as compared with C. p. calif nrnicns : general streakiness of female (and 

 male in more common plumage). 



Nesting. — Nest: of twigs and rootlets lined with horse-hair, string, etc., 

 placed in pine or fir tree well out from trunk. Eggs: 4 or 5, colored as in succeed- 

 ing species; a little larger. Av. size .85 x .60 (21.6 x 15.2). Season: June; one 

 or two broods according to altitude. 



General Range. — Western United States from the eastern base of the Rocky 

 Mountains west to (but not including?) the Pacific coast district; north to British 

 Columbia; south over plateau region of Mexico; found chiefly in the mountains. 



Range in Washington. — At least coextensive with pine timber in eastern 

 Washington; found Ut smnmit of Cascades but westerly range imperfectly made 

 out. 



Authorities. — ["Cassin's Purple ImucIi," Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 

 (1885), 22. J Carpodacus cassini, Dawson, Auk, Vol. XIV. 1897, p. 177. D". J. 



Specimens. — Prov. C. 



CASSIN'S FINCH is the bird of the eastern Cascades and the timbered 

 foothills of northern Washington. W'hile ranging higher than other finches, 

 it shares witli them an inclination to urban life, and a full realization of the 

 ad\-antages of gardens and cultivated patches. At Stehekin I saw a flock of 

 them gleaning crumbs as complacently as sparrows, in the yard at the rear 

 of the hotel. At Chelan they haunt the lonesome pine trees which still dot 

 the shores of the lake, seemingly regarding their gnarled recesses as citadels 

 where alone they may be safe from the terrors of the open country. 



As the bird-man lav sprawling in the grateful shadow of one of these 

 grim sentinels, nnmching a noonday lunch, and remonstrating with Providence 

 at the unguarded virtues of the all-crawling ant, he spied a last year's Oriole's 

 nest hanging- just over his head, while an accommodating Cassin Finch 



