Purple or House Finches 837 



pearance are the Purple or House Finches (Carpodacus), a considerable group 

 of small or medium-sized, arboreal Finches, which range throughout the tem- 

 perate portions of Europe, Asia, and North America. They have short, thick, 

 conical bills and deeply emarginated tails, the adult males having the plumage 

 largely red and more or less streaked, while the females and young are con- 

 spicuously streaked, especially on the under parts. The common Purple Finch 

 (C. purpureus) is a native of eastern North America, nesting from northern 

 Minnesota and Long Island northward, and in winter ranging widely and 

 somewhat erratically as far south as the Gulf States. It is not particular as to 

 its surroundings, sometimes finding a congenial home in wild mountain forests 

 and again becoming a familiar garden bird. It feeds very largely on buds and 

 is often very destructive to the blossom buds of fruit trees. Of its song, Mr. 

 Bicknell says: "Although the Purple Finch often essays to sing in the autumn 

 and earliest spring, its full powers of voice belong alone to the nuptial season. 

 Then it easily takes its place among our noteworthy song birds. Its full song is a 

 sweet-toned, carelessly flowing warble, not too brief to miss definite character 

 as a song, and positive enough in modulation and delivery to find ready place 

 in the memory. The song bursts forth as if from some uncontrollable stress 

 of gladness, and is repeated uninterruptedly over and over again, while the 

 ecstatic bird rises high into the air, and, still singing, descends into the trees." 

 The nest is a neat structure of twigs, grasses, and rootlets, and lined with hairs, 

 and is usually placed in a coniferous tree. The eggs, from three to six in num- 

 ber, are blue, spotted with fuscous about the larger end. The best-known of 

 the western representatives of the genus is the House Finch (C. mexicanus 

 frontalis), which is a familiar, bird at lower altitudes throughout much of the 

 country west of the Great Plains and from Oregon and Wyoming to Mexico. 

 As Mr. Nehrling says : " The special favorites of man among the birds are those 

 which take up their abode habitually in the garden and in or near his buildings. 

 Such an one is the House Finch. Wherever they occur, these beautiful birds 

 have won the friendship of man. They are exceedingly tame, building like the 

 European Sparrow in nesting boxes put up for them, in outbuildings, in bushes, 

 and every nook and corner. As soon as the morning begins to dawn, they com- 

 mence to sing their sweet and melodious strain. Their excellent song, beauty, 

 and familiarity combine to make them great favorites of California rural life." 

 Of the dozen or more Old World species, perhaps the best-known is the Scarlet 

 or Rose Finch (C. erythrinus) of eastern and northeastern Europe, which has 

 much of rose-red and carmine-rose in its plumage. Several large species are 

 confined to central Asia. 



House Sparrow. We may not pass by the genus Passer, which theoretically 

 stands not only as the most typical member of the family, but is that which 

 furnishes a name for the entire order (Passeriformes}. It introduces that vast 

 nondescript group of Sparrows, and is characterized by a rather short, stout 

 bill, moderately long, pointed wings, the plumage without red or yellow and 

 without streaks on the under parts. The back, however, is conspicuously 

 streaked with black, on a brownish or rufescent ground, and the adult males 



