GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Fringillidae [539] 



only definite breeding records for the State that have come to our atten- 

 tion are a set of eggs taken May 2.4, 192.4, by Patterson (ms.) and a set of 

 three eggs taken May 2.5, 1931, near Ely, Klamath County, by Braly. 



Common House Finch: 



Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis (Say) 



DESCRIPTION. " Adult male: Forehead, superciliary, and rump rose pink, orange red, 

 or scarlet; rest of upper parts brownish gray, sometimes washed with reddish; back 

 not distinctly streaked; throat and breast reddish; belly whitish, sharply and closely 

 streaked with brown; tail not decidedly shorter than wing, nearly even; pale grayish 

 instead of reddish. Adult female: upper parts grayish brown, indistinctly streaked; 

 under parts white, broadly streaked. Young: similar to female, but back more dis- 

 tinctly streaked, under parts more narrowly and less distinctly streaked; wing 

 coverts tipped with buffy. Male: length (skins) 4.80-6.10, wing 2..99-3-33, tail 

 1.14-1.60, bill .38-. 50. Female: length (skins) 5.00-5.63, wing 1.77-3.05, tail i.oo- 

 1.40, bill .39-. 43." (Bailey) Nest: A compact mass of dried grass stems and other 

 plant material, placed in trees, bushes, or about houses. Eggs: 3 to 6, bluish white, 

 sparingly speckled with black. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: From Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming south through Cali- 

 fornia and New Mexico into Lower California and Mexico. In Oregon: Common 

 permanent resident of all valleys of eastern Oregon and of Jackson, Josephine, 

 Curry, and Douglas Counties west of Cascades. Casual elsewhere in western Oregon. 



THE ROLLICKING WARBLE of the Common House Finch, or California 

 Linnet, is constantly heard about the towns and farmsteads of eastern 

 Oregon and also in the valleys of the Rogue and Umpqua Rivers in the 

 western part of the State. In the Umpqua Valley, the bird reaches its 

 normal northern limit in western Oregon although there is a skin of a 

 straggler in the Jewett collection (female, No. 7177) taken March 2.1, 

 1931, at Forest Grove but east of the Cascades it extends beyond the 

 northern boundary of the State into Washington. This species is not 

 found at all in the higher mountains in Oregon but is confined to the 

 lower valleys. It chooses the same sort of homesites as does the English 

 Sparrow and often competes successfully with that ubiquitous foreigner. 

 Ranchers generally prefer the finches, for, although their nests are as dirty 

 as those of the sparrows and their theft of chicken feed as great, at least 

 they entertain with one of the finest songs given by any bird about the 

 farmyard. 



Bendire (1877) first listed this species from Oregon, where he found it 

 at Camp Harney. Miller (1904) found it in Wheeler County in 1899, 

 Peck (191 la) in Malheur County, and Walker (icjijb) and Willett (1919) 

 in central Oregon. Prill listed it from Warner Valley (i92_za), but its 

 presence on the west side of the Cascades was not recognized in print 

 until Gabrielson (1931) listed it from Jackson and Josephine Counties. 



Except during the breeding season, which extends from April to June 

 (April 10 to June 5, according to Patterson ms.), the birds roam the 



