FINCHES 



HOUSE FINCH 



Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis (.S"(7r) 



Other Names. — Crimson-frontctl Finch ; Red-headed 

 Linnet : Linnet : Burion ; Red-liead. 



General Description. — Length. 5'.. inches. L^pper 

 parts, brownish-gray : under parts, white streaked with 

 brown. Bill, shorter than head, conical, and thick; 

 tail, about -54 length of wing, nearly even. 



Color. — Adult Male: Forehead (broadly), broad 

 stripe above the ear (e.xtending from forehead to back 

 of head), check region, throat (sometimes upper part of 

 chest also), and rump, bright red; rest of upper parts, 

 hair-brown tinged with red ; the wings and tail, dusky 

 with pale grayish brown and brownish gray edgings ; 

 under parts ( e.xcept throat, etc.) dull u'hitish. thickly 

 streaked %cith hair-brown, the breast sometimes tinged 

 with pale red ; bill, dark horn-brownish ; iris, brown. 

 Adl'lt Fem.\le: Similar to the adult male, but without 

 any red, that of the upper parts replaced by the general 



hair-hrown, that of throat, etc., by streaks of white and 

 .grayish brown, like rest of inider parts. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest : Usually about houses, 

 but located anywhere in trees, bushes, sagebrush, hay 

 stacks, old boxes, tin cans, but always near water; care- 

 lessly or compactly constructed of any handy material, 

 grass, string, paper, rags, straw, bark strips, or plant 

 fibers. Eggs : 3 to 6, bluish white or pale greenish blue, 

 sparingly marked with spots and lines of sepia or black; 

 rarely unmarked. 



Distribution. — Western Lhiited States and northern 

 Mexico; north to southern Wyoming, southern Idaho, 

 and Oregon ; south to Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, north- 

 ern Chihuahua, northern Sonora, and northern Lower 

 California; east to western border of the Great Plains 

 ( middle Texas to western Kansas and southeastern 

 Wyoming). 



The House Finch or Red-headed T.innet 

 through many parts of the West is the com- 

 monest bird about the dooryard. It is even more 

 abundant and more familiar than the Robin 

 through the northern .States. It is especially fond 

 of nesting in vines about the porch, a cypress 

 hedge, or any favorable place not far from the 

 house. The bird is so familiar and alnmdant 

 through parts of California and it has such a 

 strong taste for the fruits ])lantcd by man, that 

 Red-head and his wife are often regarded as a 

 nuisance. However, if a person is willing to trade 

 his cherries, fio-s. and other fruit for bright bird 



nuisic and companionslii]), the Linnet is willing 

 to give full value for all the fruit he takes. 



While studying birds at Tucson, .\rizona, in 

 the spring of 1910, we fotmd the House Finch 

 one of the commonest residents. W^e tised to 

 watch a pair daily through the \'irginia creeper 

 that shaded our porch and window. There were 

 the remains of two old nests, one at the corner 

 of the porch and one in front of the window. 



One morning early, we saw the male and 

 female looking at the nest bv the window. He 

 of the Red-head turned ardund and around on 

 the remains of the old nest ;is if saving, " Come 



HOUSE FINCH 

 raaoy places he is regarded i 



