FRINGILLID.E— THE FINCHES. 4(39 



surpasses it in sweetness. Its beiiutUul plumage .alyo rentiers it still mure 

 attractive. Tlie peculiarly solt and nmsical turd of this bird is also very 

 similar to that of the Canary, and is very different from the connnon note of 

 the I'urple Einch. This bird breeds very luimerously among the shade-trees 

 in the streets of Sacramento, as well as among the oak groves on the out- 

 skirts of that city. The males are very shy, but the females, when tlieir nest 

 is disturbed, keep up a lively chiri)ing in an adjoining tree. Tlie nest is gen- 

 erally situated near the extremity of a horizontal branch of a small oak, 

 usually in a gi'ove, occasionally in an isolated tree. In one inst.'ince it made 

 use of an abandoned nest of a Bullock's Oriole, and in another of that of a 

 Cliff Swallow. 



Dr. Coo])er speaks of this bird as being especially abundant in all the 

 southern portions of California, and also, according to Dr. Newdjcrry, through- 

 out all the valleys northward into Oregon. It is a si)eci'js tiiat is every- 

 where peculiar to the valleys, MJiile the others of this genus are eijually 

 confined to the wooded mountains. Dr. ( 'ooper als* met with this si)ecies 

 in the plains near the coast, where there are no plants higher than the wild 

 mustard, on the seeds of which they feed. Tliey also iietjuent the groves 

 and the open forests on tiie summits of the coast range, but in small num- 

 bers, in c(mipany with the C. vitUforuicKs. They at times feed on buds of 

 trees, and seeds of the cottonwood and other i)lants. It is most abundant 

 among ranches and gardens where. Dr. Cooper states, it does nnich mischief 

 by destroying seeds and young i)lants, fruit and buds. For tliese depreda- 

 tions even its cheerful and constant song is not regarded as an adcciuate com- 

 pensation ; and unlike the New-^Iexicans in their treatment of its kindred 

 race, the California cultivators wage an unrelenting war upon these birds. 



At San Diego, Dr. Cooper found them buililing as early as the loth of 

 Man-h, and even a little earlier. IJoth tlie situation and the materials of 

 their nest vary. He has found them nest ' ; in trees, on logs and rocks, on 

 the top rail of a picket fence, inside a window-shutter, in the holes of walls, 

 under tiles, on the thatch of a roof, in barns and haystacks, and even be- 

 tween the interstices in the sticks of which the nest of a Hawk had been 

 made, and once in the old nest of an Oriole. About dwellings they always 

 seek the protection of man, and seem to be (piite unconscious of having 

 deserved or incurred liis enmity. The materials of their nests are usually 

 coarse grasses ami weeds, with a lining of hair and line roots. They rui.se 

 two, sometimes three, broods in a season, and in the autunni assemble in 

 large flocks, but migrate very little, if any, to the south. 



Dr. Cooper states that their songs are very diH'erent from those of the 

 other sjK'cies. Tiiey are very varied and veiy lively, and are heard througli- 

 out the year. They are easily ke])t as cage-birds, Ijut soon lose the beauty 

 of their plumage in confinement, their bright purple colors changing to a 

 dirty yellow. 



Nuttall did not observe any of this species in Oregon. 



