Birds of Massachusetts. 165 
he has seen more than one in this State. It will, 
without much doubt, be numbered with our occa- 
sional visiters, by future observers. 
The Purre Finca, Fringilla purpurea, is not 
an uncommon bird in thisand more northern regions. 
Some of them pass the breeding season here; the 
greater number keep on toward the British provinces, 
where they spend the summer, and return to the 
south about the time when the leaves fall. At that 
season their food consists of insects and berries; 
when these cannot be had, they eat the seeds and 
sometimes the buds of trees. 
The crimson linnet, as it is sometimes called, has 
a rich and varied warble, clear as the softest tones of 
a flute. It sings not easily and unconsciously, like 
the sweet vireo, which it resembles, but more with 
the air of a performer, and as if it knew that some 
one was standing still to listen. It runs through 
various changes, with great rapidity and skill, and 
seems to challenge all the feathered tribes, to rival 
its admirable song. 
General Dearborn was the first to discover the nest 
of this bird in Massachusetts. It was built on the 
low branch of a balsam fir, with the outside covered 
with lichens. Mr. Cabot and Dr. Brewer have also 
found them ; but the number of those that remain 
with us at that season, must be small. 
The Pine GaossEAk, Pyrrhula enucleator, is an 
inhabitant of cold regions, and comes to us at irregu- 
lar intervals, either in winter or when that season is 
nigh. Professor Emmons tells me that they were 
