180 LAND-BIRDS. 



well as a superciliary line, is white. Wings and tail, like those 

 of the male, but with no reddish. 



b. The nest is usually composed of fine rootlets, weed- 

 stalks, and grasses, being lined with hairs ; but its materials 

 vary greatly in some cases. It is placed in a pine, cedar, or- 

 chard tree, or occasionally a bush or hedge, from five to twenty 

 feet above the ground. The eggs of each set are four or five, 

 and average .75 X .55 of an inch or more. They are of a 

 light greenish blue, marked rather thinly and chiefly at the 

 larger end with specks, blotches, and scrawls, of very faint 

 lilac, and of blackish. The first set is laid about the first of 

 June or earlier, and a second often appears in July. 



c. The Purple Finches are well known on account of their 

 charming song, and the gay or brilliant coloring in summer of 

 the males, who attract, especially if in flocks, the attention of 

 many a person who is habitually inobservant. A few pass the 

 less severe winters in eastern Massachusetts, but in doing so 

 usually frequent swamps of cedar trees, or retired places where 

 seeds and berries are sufficiently abundant. The " Linnets " 

 generally arrive here from the South on the first of April or 

 earlier, but sometimes not until May, and then appear in the 

 open country, when the males and females often congregate 

 in small flocks, usually feeding upon the buds of various trees. 

 The males are not at this time of the year in full dress,* and 

 perhaps on this account, if these birds may be supposed to 

 have human vanities, are often alone or apart from the females. 

 They are, however, in full song, and, perched on some high 

 branch, sing loudly, as if under the delusion that winter dis- 

 appears in April. 



When much startled, the " Linnets " usually fly for some 

 distance at a considerable height. In May they usually be- 



* This, and the opening sentence of it sometimes immediately succeeds the 

 the paragraph, imply that the carmine first or "nestling" plumage of the 

 plumage is worn only in the breeding young, and further, that a certain pro- 

 season, whereas it is really common to portion of the "gray" males never be- 

 all seasons, and once assumed is prob- come " red." This theory is not as yet 

 ably never again changed. It was for- supported by much evidence, but there 

 merly thought to be invariably charac- are some grounds for believing that 

 teristic of fully mature birds, but there it may prove to be well founded. W. 

 are ornithologists who now suspect that B. 



