FAMILY Frlngillidae. 



P.rple Finch This Finch is the first bird of importance 



Linnet ag a gm or er i n the family to "which he he- 



Carpodacus 



purpureus longs. I have no knowledge whatever of 



L. 6.3o inches the song of the splendidly colored Pine 

 April lath, or Grosbeak, a distinctive northern and win- 

 all the year ter kj r( j w hi c h occasionally visits Campton 

 in mid- winter, and very little of the warbling song of the 

 Evening Grosbeak, a Mississippi Valley bird. In order, 

 these two species come before the Purple Finch. The 

 latter songster is the most perfect and lovely warbler we 

 have. The term warble is unfortunately too indiscrimi- 

 nate in its application to the song of a bird, and it needs 

 the clear definition which I have endeavored to give in 

 the pages which follow. Also the term purple is an un- 

 fortunate color description which, at the very best, is ab- 

 solutely misleading. I know of no North American bird 

 which possesses a single purple feather ! * 



The Purple Finch is not purple, his colors are those of 

 a Song Sparrow suffused with crimson to a greater or 

 less degree. Head , breast, and lower back strongly tinged 

 with crimson, that color fading to a faint tint, almost 

 white, on the lower parts ; back, madder or crimson 

 brown ; wings and tail sepia brown, the edges of the 

 feathers light crimson, the tail distinctly forked. The 

 female lacks the crimson tinge and has the appearance 

 of a brown Sparrow with gray markings. The bill of 

 this Finch is remarkably stout, and of a brownisli horn- 

 color ; over its base are a few fine feather- tufts. The 

 nest, built of rootlets and grasses, is generally in an 

 ever-green tree, and on a horizontal branch from ten to 

 thirty feet above the ground. Egg light greenish blue, 

 spotted with sepia at the larger end. The range of the 



* Purple, nowadays, is considered almost a violet ; it is simply 

 violet leaning toward crimson. What the ornithologist means by 

 purple is crimson ; the botanist makes the same mistake, his purple 

 flower is usually crimson or magenta. Both scientists use the term 

 with Its classic significance, precisely as it is used in King James's 

 version of the Scriptures. The men clothed in " purple and fine 

 linen " wore criiimon and white garments. There is n 

 employing obsolete words with obscure meanings in tin--.- iatt.-i 

 days when accuracy in the statement of fact is considered im 



]><M-ativp. 



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