6 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



olivaceous in winter), streaked with dusky and, to a 

 less extent, with whitish; wings and tail, dusky with 

 light olive or olive-grayish edgings; a hroad stripe of 

 olive on side of head, and a more broken stripe or 

 patch of the same on sides of throat; ear and cheek 

 regions, mostly whitish, streaked with olive ; under 

 parts, white (tinged with buff in winter) broadly 

 streaked with olive, except on abdomen, anal region, 

 and under tail-coverts, the streaks distinctly wedge- 

 shaped or triangular. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually placed in conifers; 



a frail open-work structure of grass, rootlets, bark 

 strips, vegetable fibers, thickly lined with hair ; 

 resembles a Chipping Sparrow's nest, but larger. Eggs : 

 4 to 6, dull greenish-blue spotted with shades of brown, 

 black, and lilac. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America; breeding 

 from Pennsylvania (especially in mountains), northern 

 New Jersey, Connecticut, southern Ontario, northern 

 Illinois, Minnesota, and North Dakota, north to more 

 eastern British provinces, Hudson Bay, Manitoba ; in 

 winter south to Gulf coast. 



The haunts of the Purple Finch are the low 

 green forests, not the denser portions, but rather 

 the open woods and swamps wliere firs and 

 cedars are nunierous. He is one of the con- 



C'lurtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 

 PORPLE FINCH C. nat. size) 

 From the top of a balsam or a spruce he delivers his song 



spicuous birds of such a neighborhood. From the 

 top of a balsam or a spruce he delivers his song 

 — a rapid, easily flowing, melodious warble, re- 

 sembling in a measure that of the Warbling Virco 

 but more variable in character. Sometimes when 

 overcome with emotion he launches into the air 

 with vibrating wings, rising upward and upward, 

 melody pouring from his throat like a torrent 

 down a mountain side, until he has reached an 

 altitude of two or three hundred feet, when with 

 outstretched wings he descends in wide circles 



to the summit of the very tree from which he 

 started. Occasionally this impassioned outbreak 

 comes with such suddenness as to startle anyone 

 who may be nearby. 



Often he may be seen dancing about a female 

 on the limbs of a tree or on the ground. His 

 wings will be fully extended and quivering, his 

 crest standing as high as possible, his tail spread, 

 and the bright feathers of the rump raised in the 

 air. During this performance he gives voice 

 softly and sweetly to his melodious warble. Pres- 

 ently, apparently overcome by his emotion, he 

 closes his wings and flies to a neighboring tree — 

 but in a short time he repeats his antics. 



In addition to his song, he has a sharp call- 

 note, pip, uttered while flying, and another, 

 chip dice, used when feeding. The immature 

 males, which look like the females, sing almost 

 as well as the full-plumaged males. Several ob- 

 servers have stated that the female sings, but not 

 as sweetly as the male. 



In western North America we find in the val- 

 leys the California Purple Finch (Carpodacus 

 piirpiirciis califoniiciis) and on the mountain 

 slopes Cassin's Purple Finch ( Carpodacus cas- 

 stni). The California Purple Finch is about the 

 same size as the eastern bird, but the red is bright 

 rosy instead of wine color. The Cassin's Finch 

 is similar to the California but duller in colora- 

 tion and he is larger by about an inch. 



The scientific name given to this group of 

 birds is very expressive of a bad habit indulged 

 in by them. Carpodacus is from the Greek, and 

 translated into English means " fruit-biting." 

 When the trees are budding they do consider- 

 able harm in the peach and cherry orchards by 

 eating the buds. Later they have been found 

 feeding on green- cherries. In the winter any 

 seed-bearing tree will furnish them with a meal. 

 Though they habitually feed in trees, they often 

 destroy the seeds of noxious weeds. A bird of 

 this species was watched with a glass while 

 feeding in a thicket of giant ragwood. In three 

 minutes he ate fifteen seeds. 



