374 SINGING BIRDS. 



it then, by a fine crescendo, bursts into loudness and falls into 

 an ecstasy of ardent and overpowering expression ; at such 

 times the usual pauses of the song are forgotten, and like the 

 varied lay of the Nightingale, the ravishing performer, as if in 

 serious emulation, seems to study every art to produce the 

 effect of brilliant and well-contrasted harmony. As he sits on 

 the topmost bough of some tall sapling or more lofty tree, sur- 

 veying the wide landscape, his proud voice and elevated action 

 seem to bid defiance to competition ; and while thus earnestly 

 engaged, he seems to fear no spectator, however near may be 

 his approaches. The rapidity of his performance and the pre- 

 eminent execution with which it is deliv^ered seem almost like 

 the effort of a musical-box or fine-toned, quickly moving, deli- 

 cate strain on the organ. While feeding in the month of 

 March these birds also utter a querulous tshippee tshee, in 

 nearly the same sad and liquid tone as that uttered by the 

 Yellow Birds while thus engaged. The dull-colored birds, in 

 the attire of the female, do not sing either so well or in the 

 same manner as the crimson-colored individuals. 



The nest of this species is, as I have observed in two in- 

 stances in Cambridge, made in the horizontal branches of the 

 balsam-fir. In the first, which I saw in the garden of Professor 

 Farrar, it was made in a young tree about 6 feet from the 

 ground. On approaching it the female sat still until I nearly 

 touched her, and made very little complaint when off. The 

 nest was coarse and substantial, very much like that of the 

 Song Sparrow, composed of coarse grass and lined with fine 

 root-fibres. From this nest was raised in a cage one of the 

 young, which became exceedingly docile and affectionate, but 

 was not remarkable for its song. 



In winter the Purple Finch is found regularly, though sparingly, 

 through the southern and central portions of New England and in 

 Ontario, and I have heard its song in mid-winter in a New Bruns- 

 wick forest. 



