382 



SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSEKES — OSCINES. 



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Fig. 242. — Purple Fiucli, (f, reduced. 

 (Sheppard del. Nichols, sc.) 



the most miscellaneous materials, 



white, inarked everywhere except on throat, belly, and crissum with streaks and arrow-heads 

 of dusky olive-brown ; the latter pretty evenly distributed on breast, former the same on sides, 

 on sides of neck and throat confluent and gathered into a maxillary series running up to bill, 

 separated by a poorly-defined whitish area from olive- 

 brown auriculars, over which is a whitish postocular streak. 

 Wings and tail as in ^, but the edgings plain brown. 

 Length 5.70-5.90 ; extent 9.50-10.00 ; wing about 3.00. 

 Young J cannot be certainly distinguished from 9? in 

 •general, duller and grayer brown, with less olive shade ; 

 the red first shows pale or bronzy in slight touches. Cage- 

 )irds sometimes turn yellowish after moulting, as is the case 

 with various other red Finches. U. S- from Atlantic to 

 the Great Plains; N. to Labrador, Hudson's Bay, and the 

 Saskatchewan. Breeds from the Middle States, Minnesota 

 and N. Dakota northward; winters in most of the U. S., 

 rticularly the Middle and S. States. An engaging 

 l)u-d, of bright colors, sweet song, and many amiable traits, 

 among them its fondness for the society of man ; it comes 

 fearlessly about our houses to build its own, which is gen- 

 erally situated on a horizontal bough or fork, composed of 

 ilmost any vegetable fibre being available for the flat and 

 shallow structure ; it is usually lined with hair, and the eggs, to the number of 4 or 5, are pale 

 dull greenish, or almost whitish, sparsely sprinkled and scratched with blackish surface-mark- 

 ings and lilac shell-spots ; size about 0.85 X 0.65; two broods are often reare<l. When not 

 breeding the birds are generally found in flocks, and it is to be feared they damage in spring 

 the blossoms of fruit-trees. 



C. p. califor'nieus. (Lat., Californian.) Califokxiax Purple Finch. Like the last; 

 first quill said to be usually shorter than the 4th (not longer as usual m purpureus) ; $ with 

 sides and flanks suffused with brownish, the streaks there broad and not sharp; streaks of 

 back indistinct; red of crown and rump dark and dull. 9 differs correspondingly from 

 that of purpureus. Pacific Coast region from British Columbia to southern California. 

 Not in any previous ed. of the Key, in consequence of a consultation held many years ago 

 by Prof. Baird, Mr. Cassin, and myself, in which it was decided against unanimously; 

 and I only admit it now pro forma, in my desire to bring about as far as possible nom- 

 inal conformity of the Key with the A. 0. U. Lists. C californicus Bd. B. N. A. 1858, 

 p. 413; C- purpureus californicus of most authors since 1874; A. 0. U. Lists, 1886 and 

 1895, No. 517 r/. 



C. eas'sini. (To John Cassin.) Cassin's Purple Finch. Adult $ : In highest plumage 

 duller than C purpureus, excei)tiug on crown. Middle of back brown, tinged witli red, the 

 feathers dusky-centred, gray-edged; crown crimson, the cap not so extensive as in purpureus, 

 and quite well defined, separated by a dusky and gray interval from color of back. Under tail- 

 coverts with dusky shaft-lines, usually wanting in purpureus. Larger: length 6.50-7.00; 

 extent 11.00-11.50; wing 3.50 ; tail 2.50; bill at least 0.50 along culmen, usually more, rela- 

 tively less turgid than in purpureus. Iris brown ; feet blackish-brown ; bill above dark bluish 

 horn-color, below dusky flesli-tinted. The sexual changes are the same as in the last species; 

 it is not easy to distinguish 9 and young ^ from those of ^JHrjj»)-ei<s, but they are larger, with 

 longer and less tumid bill, and more streaked crissum. Very young birds have an ochraceous 

 or light rufous suffusion, especially noticeable on the under parts; the streaks are more numer- 

 ous and diffuse. Rocky Mts. of U. S. and westward, esi)eci:illy the Southern Rocky Mt. region, 

 as Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico; N. to British Columbia; E. to Wind River 



