— the indigo bunting, the southern blue grosbeak and the beautiful painted bunt- 

 ing or nonpareil, gay in blue, gold, red and green plumes. 



Red and blue — then yellow must follow as a natural sequence, to complete 

 the primary colors. It is a fact, in the floral kingdom, that the three primary 

 colors never exist naturally without artificial hybridization in one family ; thus 

 there are red and yellow roses, but no blue ; red and blue verbenas, but no yellow, 

 and so on. 



In the sparrow family, however, we have the three primary colors in all 

 their purity, — the American goldfinch clad in pure gold and the dickcissel of the 

 yellow breast, together with the yellow wing and tail marks of the pine siskin, 

 supplying the third color. The towhee bunting stands alone, a blending of bril- 

 liant black above, white below, with chestnut sides and red eyes. The chippy, 

 song and field sparrows are typical of the color-protective family type. The 

 white outer tail quills are an inde.x to the vesper sparrow ; the same white quills 

 and a white vest name the slate-colored junco. The white-throated sparrow 

 has his name plainly printed under his beak, and the white-crowned sparrow 

 writes his in his white head-stripe, while the rusty brown fox sparrow is known 

 both by size and color. 



The purple finch, which, as I have said, is not purple, but, when in full 

 plumage, washed with a rich raspberry-red, deepest on breast, crown and rump, 

 light breast, brownish back, wings and tail, is one of the notable members of the 

 family. Its bill is heavy and round, approaching in size those of the grosbeaks, 

 while in body it ranks with song and house sparrows. Besides having a heavy 

 bill that suggests the grosbeak, it has a way of bristling the feathers of its crown 

 that sometimes gives it the aggressive mien of the cardinal ; while its clinking 

 callnote and way of flying in scattered flocks, and the fact that it is with us in 

 winter, cause it to be some times mistaken in the distance for one of the cross- 

 bills. 



One would think that, with its rich coloring and the fact that it is a winter 

 resident in many parts of its range, this finch would be a well-known bird ; yet 

 many people who have a fair knowledge of our common birds do not seem to 

 know it. Perhaps this is because the females and immature birds, wearing gray 

 and brown stripes, look so very much like their sparrow kin that the rosy-vested 

 bird that sings in the trees, where his colors cannot be seen unless you are 

 directly under him, escapes unnoticed. The change of the young male finch 

 from his northern plain garb to the full crimson costume is interesting as it is 

 deliberate, taking two seasons, the rosy flush not appearing until the end of the 

 second year. 



The nesting season is spent from Minnesota and the Middle States north- 

 ward, and the winter from the borders of the northern state southward to the 

 Gulf. Its choice of a nesting location is very wide, for, like the catbird, it is 

 equally at home in unfrequented and brushy woodlands, and on the borders of 

 home gardens where people are constantly present. 



395 



