270 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



parts of many birds of this race, the latter usually appearing of great- 

 est intensity on the rump of old females, and the former usually reg- 

 ularly placed on the sides of or including the breast of both young and 

 old birds, especially noticeable on old birds in fresh post-nuptial 

 plumage, when they can hardly be distinguishable from juvenile 

 birds. Such buffy color is also not infrequently irregularly placed on 

 the breast, one example being a well-marked band nearly one-half 

 inch wide crossing it diagonally." 



Helen G. Whittle (1928) refers to these as color-phases, "erythrism 

 and xanthochroism." A female, "banded June 15, 1924, was a re- 

 turn-3 in 1927, at which time it was an olivaceous bird having a 'dull 

 rosy rump with a central patch of rich olive-yellow.' As a return-4. 

 May 9, 1928, the crown had a few crimson feathers, and the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts were yellow with patches of rich reddish brown 

 in the latter area." 



Magee (1924) lists a number of females and young males showing 

 some yellow or red in the plumage. 



Some patches of yellowish or olive color, particularly on adult males, 

 are evidently a result of feather replacement at a time when the bird's 

 diet cannot provide the red pigment. (C. H. Blake.) 



Food. — Ora W. Knight (1908) sums up the food of this finch very well 

 as follows: "As to the food of the Purple Finch, the species is pri- 

 marily a seed eater during the winter and spring, eating all sorts of 

 weed and grass seeds, also to a lesser extent a few buds of apple, maple 

 and birch as well as other tree buds. In late spring they eat some 

 insects, such as beetles, green caterpillars and small larvae of various 

 sorts. In summer they are fruit eaters to quite an extent, partaking 

 of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, both wild and cul- 

 tivated and many other fruits. They seem to relish the fruit of the 

 dogwoods, elders and viburnums very much." 



Alexander F. Skutch writes to me: "In Maryland on October 27, 

 1929, I watched a purple finch feeding on the dry 'cones' of the tuhp 

 poplar. One by one it puUed the winged scales from the cluster, and 

 with one deft bite cut out the seed from the thicker end of each, then 

 allowed the empty wing to flutter slowly to the ground." 



Hervey Brackbill (MS.) observed that, near Baltimore, Md., its 

 food included berries of the Japanese honeysuckle, seeds of tulip tree, 

 white ash, American elm, and Chinese elm, and buds of oaks and red 

 maple. 



Charles H. Blake (MS.) of Lincoln, Mass., says that it "eats buds 

 of Populus tremuloides, Prunus serotina, and JJlmus americana in 

 early spring. In winter, feeds on fruits of Juniperus virginiana and 

 Ilex verticillata.'* 



