LEE PURPLE FINCH. Ly 
For a number of years past, this bird has bred regularly in the vi- 
cinity of Auburn; and to-day, the young collector can, without much 
trouble succeed in securing a nest of the species whensoever he may de- 
sire. 
THE NEST AND EGGS. 
I havé before me, and through the kindness of my brother Sam. F. 
Rathbun, a nest of this Finch, which presents a very fair example of bird 
architecture in general. The structure measures in external diameter 
from‘three and three-fourths to four inches ; in internal diameter two 
and one-half inches ; and in depth, over all, one and seven-eighths inches. 
It is composed externally of the fine terminal twigs of various trees or 
bushes, among which, those of the spruce predominate. Intermingled 
with these, is an occasional half opened bud of the spruce, with now and 
then a small lanceolate leaf of some shrub or other. Succeeding this 
material, interiorly, and neatly arranged by the felting wings, the busy 
mandibles and dexterous feet of the builder, is a mixture of horse hairs— 
black, white and bay—together with shining shreds of the bark of dead 
twigs, and weed stalks. The lining of this nest is of wool principally, 
having a staple of some two and one-fourth inches long ; this is mixed 
throughout with a few downy body-feathers and presents a comfortable 
concavity, almost perfectly semi-spherical of one and one-fourth inches 
in depth. 
In such a tiny house, a veritable snug. harbor of safety, my lady usu- 
ally deposits four or five pledges to her faithful lord, each measuring in 
its normal condition, about three-fourths of an inch in length and nine- 
sixteenths of an inch in short diameter. These measurements I have 
taken from aspecimen before me. Dr. Coues gives their average di- 
