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



New York: 18 records, May 15 to June 23; 11 records, May 27 to 

 June 7. 



Khode Island: 12 records, May 22 to June 14. 



CARPODACUS PURPUREUS CALIFORNICUS Baird 



California Purple Finch 



PLATE 15 



Habits 



According to Ridgway (1901) the California purple finch is similar 

 to the eastern bird, but "wing shorter, with the ninth (outermost) pri- 

 mary usually shorter than sixth, tail longer, and coloration different in 

 both sexes." The adult male is "darker, the rump much darker wine 

 purple, and the back more decidedly reddish, thus giving to the upper 

 surface a more uniform aspect * * *." In the female, the upper 

 parts average "darker, more uniform, and decidedly more ohvaceous 

 or oUve-greenish * * *." 



This purple finch is the Pacific coast form, breeding from British 

 Columbia to southern California. Two other western races have been 

 described but have not yet been admitted to the A.O.U. Check-List. 



Mrs. Bailey (1902) says of its haunts: "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 County Mr. Grinnell finds it 

 a common winter visitant of the mesas and lowlands, haunting thickets 

 and brushy places in small companies." 



Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock (1912) writes: "The Cahfornia Purple 

 Finch is one of those species which indulge in a semi-annual vertical 

 migration. Spending the winter among the lowlands, feeding through 

 the valleys in smaU flocks, as soon as the snow begins to melt in the 

 mountains, they work their way slowly to the higher levels." 



Nesting. — Whereas the eastern purple finch seems to prefer to nest 

 almost exclusively in coniferous trees, the western bird seems to show 

 no such decided preference. Dawson (1923) writes: "Nests are 

 placed, preferably, near water, in evergreen or deciduous trees, andi 

 at heights varying from six to forty feet. They usually occur on a i 

 bough at some distance from the trunk of a supporting tree, seldom or 

 never being found in a crotch. Composed externally of twigs, they 

 are fined copiously with green moss, horsehair, and string; and contain ii 

 four or five handsome blue-green eggs, spotted and dashed with violet 

 and black," Thomas D. Burleigh (1929-30) found a nest near 

 Tacoma, Wash., that was "fifty feet from the ground and twenty 



