INSESSORES : FRINGILLID.E. 



201 



Purple Finch, 

 C. purpureus, Gray. 



The Purple Finch, C.purpureus, Gray, 

 of North America east of the Central 

 Plains, is six and a quarter inches long, 

 the wing three and a third inches, the 

 color crimson ; belly and under tail- 

 coverts white ; there are two reddish 

 bands across the wings. The female 

 is olivaceous brown, white beneath, 

 the feathers streaked with brown. The 

 song of the Purple Finch is prolonged 

 and sweet. The nest is built in a tree 

 a few feet from the ground ; the eggs 

 are four, bright emerald-green. 



The Western Purple Finch, C. calif ornicus, Baird, of 

 the Pacific coast, is rather smaller than the preceding, 

 and the purple of the head and rump much darker. 



Cassin's Purple Finch, C. Cassmii, Baird, of the Rocky 

 Mountains, is larger than C. purpureus. 



The House Finch, C. frontalis, Gray, of the Rocky 

 Mountains to the Pacific, is five and three quarters inches 

 long, the wing three and a quarter inches ; the forehead, 

 superciliary stripe, throat, and upper part of the breast, 

 crimson ; the remaining upper parts grayish brown, and 

 the under parts whitish. 



The Genus Chrysomitris has the bill nearly straight, 

 and the tail quite deeply forked ; the general colors yel- 

 low and black. 



The Black-headed Goldfinch, C. magellanica, Bonap., of 

 South America and accidental in the United States, is four 

 and a half inches long, the wing two and three quarters 

 inches ; the head is black all round. 



Yarrell's Goldfinch, C. Yarrelli, Bonap., of California 

 and Mexico, is four inches long, with the crown black. 



The Yellow-Bird or Thistle-Bird, C. tristis, Bonap., of 

 North America, is five and a quarter inches long, the 

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