NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 43 



number and measure 1.05 by .74. A nest collected in Maine is described 

 as being composed of entirely green moss. It was placed in an alder-bush 

 in a wet meadow, and was about four feet from the ground. The bird is 

 found in evergreen forests and breeds from Maine northward. 



Hab. British America, south to the northern tier of States in winter, and occasionally to Maryland, Ohio, 

 Illinois and Kansas. 



168. Purple Finch — carpodacus purpureus. Pure emerald green, 

 spotted with very dark brown, chiefly about the greater end; four or five 

 in number and measure .85 by .65. This bird is distributed durfng the 

 breeding season from the Middle States northward. The nest is usually 

 placed in evergreens or orchard trees at a moderate distance from the 

 ground. It is composed of weed-stalks, bark-strips, rootlets, grasses, all 

 kinds of vegetable fibres, and lined with hairs. The nests and eggs 

 remind one of the Chipping Sparrow's on a large scale. 



Hab. America from Atlantic to Pacific. 



168i;r. California Purple Finch — carpodacus purpureus californicus. 

 White, with a scarcely perceptible shade of bluish, with a few lines and 

 dots of black or dark brown about the larger end, blunted oval; four to 

 six, size .73 by . 5 5. The nest is described as being somewhat smaller than 

 that of the Eastern Purple Finch, but is more compact. It is made of 

 weed-stalks, grasses, while an inner nest is fitted and warmly lined with a 



hemp-like material. Hab. Pacific Province of United States. 



169. Cassin's Purple Finch — carpodacus cassini. Light bluish-green, 

 dotted around the larger end with slate, lilac and blackish-brown ; oval in 

 shape, pointed at the smaller end, and measure .82 by. 63; they are usu- 

 ally four in number. A common bird in Colorado, Utah, Nevada and 

 Eastern California. The nest is found in various situations, box-alder 

 bushes, the tops of cottonwood, aspen and pine trees. It is composed 

 principally of roots and twigs, lined with softer material of the same, to- 

 gether with moss and cotton. 



Hab. Mountainous regions of Middle Province of United States, from Rocky Mts. to Sierra Nevada. 



170. House Finch — carpodacus frontalis. Pale blue, marked chiefly 

 at the larger end with specks and lines of blackish-brown; four to six; 

 .85 by. 65. A common bird throughout the interior region of United 

 States, extending to New Mexico and Arizona on the south and southeast, 

 and probably to Mexico ; replaced on the Pacific coast by another closely 

 alhed variety, rhodocolpus. The nest is made in all sorts of places, in 

 nooks about buildings, as well as in the forks of trees. The materials are 

 various, usually grasses, lined with fine dry roots and hair. Burion is 

 another name for this species. 



Hab. Middle Province of United States, from Rocky Mountains to the interior valleys of California. 



