Cooper on Nest and Eggs of 



NOTES ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF CARPODACUS PUR- 

 PURE US var. CALIFORNICUS, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF 

 ITS NEST AND EGGS. 



BY WILLIAM A. COOPER. 



My attention was called to an article in the April number of 

 "The Nuttall Bulletin" relative to the nest and eggs of the Cali- 

 fornia Purple Finch. As my experience does not corroborate the 

 description there given, but differs widely from it, I send the follow- 

 ing account of several nests and sets of eggs, fearing the article in 

 question may mislead many whose knowledge may be restricted 

 to published information. About ten nests of this bird have come 

 under my observation during the last ten years. Of each of these 

 the framework was loosely constructed, a portion of each nest being 

 formed of pieces of Scro})hularia nodosa, some of these being en- 

 tirely of this plant. I have never found a nest in a fork, and they 

 are usually placed at a considerable distance from the ground. 

 Favorite situations are the tops of tall willows, alders, trees covered 

 with climbing ivy, and horizontal branches of redwoods. The var. 

 californicus is as abundant around Santa Cruz as is the C. frontalis ; 

 but while the latter breeds in the gai'dens throughout the city, the 

 former retires to the wooded river-bottoms, or the hills back of the 

 town. Being unacquainted with the particulars concerning the cap- 

 ture of the male parent bird, or with its captor (Mr. C. A. Allen), I 

 am unwilling to take the ground that the nest and eggs referred to 

 are not genuine ; but the chances of a mistaken parentage appear 

 quite probable. 



Four nests and sets of eggs of var. californicus give the following 

 characters : — 



1. May 30, 1875, I found a nest containing five cgiis ; incuba- 

 tion a few days advanced. The nest measured G inches in diame- 

 ter outside, 2.50 inside, depth 2.50 outside, 1.38 inside ; the frame- 

 work was of tine dried tops of Scrophularid, loosely put together; 

 the inner consisted of fine denuded vegetable fibres, soft woolly sub- 

 stances, compactly made, lined with a few hairs. The nest was 

 placed on a horizontal branch of an alder-tree, forty feet high, built 

 on the top of a limb and barely fastened to it. One egg was 

 broken ; the remaining four measure .80 x .58, .80 x .55, .80 x .55, 



