294 | NOTES ON THE: 
reported through many years from nearly all the openly tim- . 
bered sections especially, and less frequently from prairie dis- 
tricts where trees have come to be considerably grown for 
shade and ornamentation. During the winter, of 1875, I found 
them exceptionally represented in the vicinity of Minneapolis 
until the 18th of April. Occasionally individuals have been 
seen still later in other years. M. EF’. L. Washburn reports the 
species common in Otter Tail county, particularly at Lake 
Mille Lacs, which is in timbered lands. At Minnetonka Mills it 
was seen first on November 15th, and remained in that locality 
in considerable numbers until about the 20th of April. It re- 
mains all winter in the vicinity of Thompson and Duluth. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill and legs black; general color carmine-red, not continu- 
ous above except on the head; the feathers showing brownish 
centers on the back, where the red is darker. Loral region, 
base of lower jaw all round, sides and posterior part of body, 
and under tail coverts, ashy, whitest behind. Wing with two 
white bands across the tips of the greater and middle coverts; 
outer edges of quills also white, broadest on the tertiaries. 
Length, 8.50; wing, 4.50; tail, 4. 
Habitat, northern porticns of northern hemisphere. 
CARPODACUS PURPUREUS (GMELIN). (517.) 
PURPLE FINCH. 
In all my ramblings with gun, rod, and note-book, up to the 
26th of November, 1869, I failed to discover the Purple Finch, 
and had about arrived at the conclusion that I should never 
bring him to my list, when, on that day I discovered a flock of 
about 20. I was in the depth of the great deciduous forest 
unromantically called the Big Woods, about thirty miles west 
of Minneapolis, in special pursuit of ruffed grouse which were 
then very plenty in that section, when I was surprised and de- 
lighted at hearing the characteristic ‘‘chink” high above me 
from many throats, and soon discovered its source. They were 
in the extreme top of the tallest hard maples that abound there, 
and could only be identified with my ever-ready field glass. It 
did not take long to seal my discovery by having several in 
both mature and immature plumage to deposit in my collecting 
basket. Since that time it has come to be almost a common 
spring and fall visitor, indeed, resident in the north part of 
the State, where it breeds abundantly. Its nest has been re- 
ported to me as found in the section where I first saw it, but I 
