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



cassini) with three eggs in a state of advanced incubation. The nest 

 was placed on almost the top branch of a pine, about thirty feet 

 up, on the edge of the meadow." 



Grinnell and Storer (1924) write as follows regarding the nesting 

 of this species in the Yosemite region: 



At Mono Mills on May 17, 1916, an individual was seen finishing a nest 40 feet above 

 ground in the outermost crotch of a pine branch. Near Peregoy Meadow on 

 May 20, 1919, a female was seen to disappear into a dense fir bough 60 feet 

 above the ground. At Ellery Lake, 9,500 feet altitude, on July 6, 1916, a female 

 Cassin Purple Finch was observed feeding fully grown young, while at the same 

 time the members of another pair were engaged in building a nest. A male 

 bird taken in Lyell Caiion on July 23, 1915, had passed the height of the breed- 

 ing season. It would seem, therefore, that the Cassin Purple Finch here as else- 

 where has a long nesting season, beginning in late May and lasting at least until 

 the end of July. 



Rowley (1939) makes the following statement: "On July 7, 1930» 

 near Virginia Lakes [Mono County, Calif.], Sheffler found a nest 

 about fifty feet up in a lodgepole pine. The nest contained five 

 heavily-incubated eggs (fig. 51), and I found one the next day with 

 two fresh eggs about eight feet up in an aspen. In July 1939, several 

 nests in lodgepole pines near camp at Virginia Lakes contained 

 young about half-grown, except for one that was being built; no eggs 

 were found." Regarding the nesting of this species in the San 

 Bernardino Mountains, Grinnell (1908) says: 



Three nests were found near Dry Lake, 9,000 to 9,200 feet altitude, June 23 and 

 26, 1906, each containing four eggs. One of the sets was fresh, and the other two 

 were incubated to an advanced stage. As full-grown young were seen in the same 

 locality June 18, 1907, the breeding season must cover at least two and a half 

 months, which is a long period for the Boreal zone. All three nests were in tam- 

 arack pines, near the bushy ends of out-stretching branches. They were forty- 

 five, fifty, and fifteen feet above the ground, respectively. The three nests are 

 so much alike that a description of one will apply to all. Externally it consists 

 of a foundation-work of coarse, dry, crooked weed stems and gooseberry twigs, 

 in this respect something like a tanager's. But the internal cup is much better 

 formed and deeper. It consists of fine yellow and brownish rootlets and grass 

 stems, with an intermixture of finely shvered plant fibers, probably bark from 

 small stems. The inside diameter of the cup is 2.30 inches, the depth 1.10. 



Willett (1933) mentions four slightly incubated eggs collected by 

 W. M. Pierce at Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mountains, on July 10, 

 1920. In the Lassen Peak region of California, Grinnell, Dixon, and 

 Linsdale (1930) state: "Near Bogard R. S., on June 21, 1929, a female 

 was watched building a nest fifteen meters up in the end of a branch 

 of a large yeUow pine at the edge of the meadow. The bird foraged on 

 the ground for nest material." 



Gabrielson and Jewett (1940), referring to this species in Oregon say: 

 "Although the streaked newly fledged young are a familiar sight, the 

 only definite breeding records for the State that have come to our 



