( 



THE PURPLE FINCH, OR LINNET. 



{Fringilla Cannahina.) 



A NATIVE bird of considerable pretensions 

 to musical skill ; in truth, a delightful song- 

 ster, very far superior to the canary. They 

 winter in Pennsylvania, and about the first 

 of May retire to the north to breed ; they 

 fly in vast flocks, and are taken in trap cages, 

 and sold at high prices under the name of 

 Linnets. They very soon become familiar, 

 but sometimes refuse to sing in confinement. 



The song of this beautiful finch is, indeed, 

 much finer than that of the canary, the notes 

 are remarkably clear and mellow, and the 

 trilling sweet and various, particularly on 

 their first arrival. At times the warble is 

 scarcely audible, and appears at a distance ; 

 it then, by a fine crescendo, bursts into loud- 

 ness, and falls into an ecstacy 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 emula- 

 tion, seems to study every art to produce the 

 effect of hynlliant and well contrasted har- 

 mony. As he sits on the topmost boughs of 

 some tall sapling or more lofty tree, survey- 

 ing the wide landscape, his proud voice and 

 elevated action seem to bid defiance to com- 

 petition, and while thus earnestly engaged, 



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