VOL. IX. 



The Oologist. 



ALBION, N. Y., JUNE, 1892. 



NO. 6 



The Purple Finch. 



About April 25tli the Purple Fiuch 

 conies to us with his bright colors anil 

 tine song. He very soon makes him- 

 self heard, as, perched on the top of 

 some tree, he pours out his lay to the 

 morning sun. And, if he is not the 

 most brilliant of our birds he is certain- 

 ly beautiful as the sunlight strikes his 

 plumage. 



A very fine specimen which I procur- 

 ed this spring Avas colored as follows: 

 Pileuni, (i e, forehead, crown and occi- 

 put) crimson; cheeks, chin and throat, 

 light carmine; breast and sides, gray 

 washed with pink; bellj'' and under tail 

 coverts, grayish white; back, madder 

 brown; all the feathers marked lance- 

 olately Avith chestnut; rump, bi'ight; 

 pink; wings and tail, seal In'own all 

 feathers edged Avith madder. These 

 colors, however, fade as the season ad- 

 vances. 



The female is a much plainer bird, 

 being grayish olive, streaked with 

 brown on the upper parts, breast gray 

 with nearly black streaks and two light 

 marks on the cheeks. I have heard it 

 said that the female Finch did not sing. 

 Now I know from personal observation 

 that during the mating season she does 

 sing a sliort, l>ut good song, much more 

 l)roken than the male's, it is true, l)ut 

 still it is a true song. 

 About the 25th of May she picks out a 

 site for her nest, almost invariably in 

 the top of some evergreen tree. In fact I 

 never knew of but one nest being placed 

 anywhere else, that being in the top of 

 a small maple that had been cut off and 

 grown out very thick. The nest is com- 

 posed of dry roots and dead grass lined 

 with hair and sometimes a few feathers. 

 Thej' will also use strings and paper 

 sometimes. 



Not far from June 1st the eggs aie 

 deposited usually four, sometimes live. 

 They are blue or greenish in color, 

 spotted with l)lack and generalh' with 

 dark brown lines on the larger end, av- 

 eraging al)out .85\'.65. 



Tlie l)ird is a verj'^ close sitter and ex- 

 hibits great solicitude when he" nest is 

 distur))ed. 



When they first arrive in the spring 

 thej^ subsist almo.s.t exclusively on buds, 

 but later in the season I think they take 

 some insects and worms, while during 

 the late summer tJiey live almost exclu- 

 sively on seeds. 



They leave us quite early in the fall. 



The nunil)er of them breeding in any 

 one locality here depends mostly on the 

 number of coniferous trees. I have 

 found seven pairs in one row of Aus- 

 trian pines, that being their favorite 

 tree here, but generally you will find 

 one or two pairs in a place where the 

 door-yard contains pine or spruce trees, 

 while the cemetaries will usually have 

 three or four if unmolested. 



When their eggs are taken they will 

 almost invariably build another nest 

 near b}^ in many cases in the same tree, 

 but usually lay only three eggs this 

 time. The young birds look very much 

 like the female when they leave the 

 nest, l>ut the males are usually lai'ger 

 and darker colored. For -fear that I 

 will tire you I will close though I have 

 not exhausted my subject l»y any 

 means. 



Eknest H. Shout, 

 Chili, N. Y. 



South Dakota Notes. 



South Dakota hsis experienced one of 

 the latest seasons on record this year, 

 and owing to the lateness of it, collect- 

 ing has Ijeen dela^'ed, however, we have 



