254 



MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



was feeding, the snow was so light and feathery that the birds sank into it deeply 

 and wallowed rather than hopped from place to place. They appeared to 

 enjoy this, and often fluttered their wings in such a way as to scatter the snow 

 above and around them as bathing birds scatter drops of water. Many flying 

 down from the trees above struck the snow with such force as to plump in quite 

 up to their necks, when they stood thus for half a minute or more. 



" During the same day a flock of fully three hundred Grosbeaks were 

 reported from the Botanic Gardens, equally distant from each of the two 

 flocks described above ; if the birds were as numerous in other parts of the 

 city, Cambridge must have harbored several thousands. 



" The next morning the great flock at the two ash trees had decreased to a 

 hundred birds, who were all on the ground finishing the fallen seeds. They 

 began leaving the place in small parties while I was watching them, and at four 

 o'clock that afternoon only about twenty five remained. 



" On the 1 3th, I spent most of the forenoon in the cedar-grown pastures 

 which encircle the suburbs of Cambridge. I heard a few Grosbeaks piping but 

 could not find them. On examining the cedar trees, I could not discover one 

 that had more than a few scattered berries. A report from Wellesley Hills, 

 under date of January 14, showed a similar departure of the Grosbeaks from 

 that region, and a like explanation, — the stripped condition of the food-bearing 

 trees."' 



142. Carpodacus purpureus (Gmel.). 

 Purple Finch. 



Permanent resident, common from April to October ; in winter of irregular but sometimes 

 abundant occurrence. 



NESTING DATES. 



May 25 — June 8. 



Up to within twenty-five or thirty years the brilliant, ecstatic song of the 

 Purple Finch might be heard through May, June and early July in almost every 

 part of Cambridge, — including even Cambridgeport. Many were the nests of 

 this bird that I used to find in our Norway spruces and other ornamental ever- 



> W. Brewster, Auk, 1895, XII, 245-247. 



