iSSS.] General Notes. 200 



Carpodacus purpureus at Portland, Maine, in Winter. — Last Autumn 

 (1SS7) I saw Purple Finches <yCarpodacus fitrpureus) in the outskirts of 

 the city up to November ii, — later than they had ever been seen in this 

 vicinity. Having no suspicion that they would remain through the 

 winter, and being very busy, I then ceased to look lor them. During the 

 last of January, however, I frequently heard bird notes I could not ascribe 

 to any resident species, or to any species known to winter about Portland, 

 and I was told by friends living in the suburbs that the mountain ash 

 berries there were being eaten by a strange bird. On January 26 and 27, 

 Portland was visited by the severest storm that has occurred here for 

 nearly twenty years. One might think that such weather (there was now 

 over three feet of snow) would have discouraged a bird unused to our 

 winter season ; but such was not the case, for, early in the morning of 

 February i, I saw a Purple Finch (a female or immature male) feeding on 

 the berries of a mountain ash which grows in front of my study window. 

 That afternoon I noticed three birds, an adult male and two females or 

 immature males, in the same tree. On February S, I saw three adult males 

 feeding in a crab-apple tree from which the fruit was not gathered in the 

 fall. For the succeeding twelve days, besides seeing individuals in 

 mountain ash trees, I never passed this crab-apple tree without noticing 

 these birds there. The largest number seen was seven, — five males and 

 two females or immature males. During these twelve days* five inches of 

 snow fell and the thermometer averaged 18.5° Fahrenheit For the next 

 two weeks I was out of town and unable to take notes. On March 10 I 

 found at least eight Purple Finches in a large flock of Spiuus pi^ius ; it 

 was impossible to count them accurately. For the next three days they 

 fed in the same place (under a mountain ash where the snow had blown 

 off) in about the same numbers. On March 13, came a terrific snow- 

 storm which will hardly need to be recalled to Eastern readers of 'The 

 Auk.' Nevertheless, on the following day, Purple Finches were still here, 

 and I have seen them every day since up to the present time (March 20). 

 It may here be stated that their earliest recorded arrival at Portland is 

 March 23 (iV. C. Broxvn, Proc. Port. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1882, p. 12). Of late 

 they have grown shyer and do not associate so much with the Pine 

 Finches. The largest number I have seen together is twelve, and that 

 only once. 



When it is remembered that that part of the winter during which I saw 

 no specimens was by far the mildest, I think no one will doubt that Pur- 

 ple Finches have been resident here this year. There seems to be no 

 previous record of their occurrence at all in winter so far north in New 

 England as Portland; and it is remarkable that they should have chosen 

 an unusually severe winter for what may be a first experiment. — John 

 C. Brown, Portland, Maine. 



*At this time a notice of their occurrence up to February 20, which was published 

 in the Portland 'Daily Advertiser' for March 20, was handed in to the Portland Society 

 of Natural History. 



