916 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



120. GNUS CARPODACUS KAUP. 



198. (517). Carpodacus purpureus (GMEL.). 



Purple Finch. 



Adult Male. Crimson, rosy or purplish-red, most intense on the 

 crown, fading to white on the belly, mixed with dusky streaks on the 

 back; wings and tail, dusky, with reddish edgings, and the wing coverts 

 tipped with the same; lores and feathers all around the base of the bill, 

 hoary. Female and Young. With no red; olivaceous-brown, brighter 

 on rump, the feathers above all with paler edges, producing a streaked 

 appearance; below, white, thickly spotted and streaked with olive- 

 brown, except on the middle of the belly and under tail-coverts; ob- 

 scure whitish superciliary and maxillary lines. Young males show 

 every gradation between these extremes in gradually assuming the 

 male plumage, and are frequently brownish-yellow or bronzy below. 



Length, 5.50-6.25; wing, 3.15-3140; tail, 2.30-2.50. 



KANGE. Eastern North America, from Gulf of Mexico north to 

 Labrador and Saskatchewan. Breeds from Illinois and Pennsylvania 

 northward. Winters from Indiana and Pennsylvania southward. 



Nest, usually in evergreen; of weeds, grass, bark shreds, vegetable 

 fibre; lined with hair. Eggs, 4-5; pale green, with spots and irregular 

 lines of dark-brown and lilac, chiefly towards the larger end; .85 by 

 .65. 



These birds, when not in full plumage, more nearly, both in shape 

 and coloration, resemble the English Sparrow than any of our native 

 birds. They are often killed for the saucy foreigners by those who 

 do not distinguish them. 



The Purple Finch is a regular migrant in varying numbers, and is 

 irregularly a winter resident, even to the northern limits of the State, 

 in favorite localities. In northern Indiana they may possibly be 

 found occasionally to remain through the summer. The winter of 

 1887-8 a company of these birds remained all winter near Sedan, De- 

 kalb County, and a number more were found in the same woods 

 through November, 1891 (Mrs. J. L. Hine). They were found Janu- 

 ary 9, 1896, at Lake Forest, EL; January 25, 1879, in Carroll County; 

 January 21, 1894, and through the winter of 1894-5 at Greencastle, 

 Ind.; December 15, 1894, in Johnson County. Prof. W. W. Cooke says 

 they breed in northern Illinois, eggs having been taken at Polo, El. 

 (Bird Mig., Miss. Val., p. 179). They have also been taken at Wau- 

 kegan in the breeding season (Nehrling, N. A. Birds, Pt. IX., p. 31). 

 Prof. A. J. Cook reports it breeding at Lansing, Mich. (Birds of Mich., 

 p. 107). 



