The Purple Finch 227 



In spite of his unique plumage, it is for his song that this bird has won renown, 

 and it is by his song that he is most readily to be identified. To hear this in its 



perfection, one must listen for it in May and June; for this Finch 

 His Song has not the enduring vocal qualities that endear his cousin, the 



Song Sparrow, and give us the perpetual hope that we may hear 

 his voice in every month of the year, — a hope that is usually fulfilled. The 

 Finches that have wintered with us begin to warble a little in late March, and the 

 same partial song may be heard in October, after the molt; but the song that 

 suddenly bursts into exuberance, rendering him one of our most conspicuous 

 songsters and recalling many notes of the English Chaffinch, belongs to the 

 nesting season. 



It is almost impossible to render the song of a bird in syllables so that it appeals 

 to any number of people; for, as bird music is phrased according to the natural, not 

 the artificial key that we associate with annotation, its translation is a matter of 

 mood, temperament and accord between imagination and ear. To me, when the 

 voice of the Crimson Finch bursts forth in sudden joyousness, it cries, " List to me, 

 list to me, hear me, and I'll tell you, — you, you!" There must be, however, some 

 similarity between these syllables and the song, because more than once, on endeav- 

 oring to name a curiously described bird that I suspected might be this Finch, 

 the rapid whispering of these words has completed the clue, by the inquirers 

 exclaiming — "Yes, that is the way the song went." Yet, do the best we can to 

 suggest rhythm of the song, the music of it belongs to the woods and fields, the sky 

 and sun, from which we may not separate it. Forbush says of it: "The song of 

 the male is a sudden, joyous burst of melody, vigorous, but clear and pure, to 

 which no mere words can do justice. When, filled with ecstasy, he mounts in air 

 and hangs with fluttering wings above the tree where sits the one who holds his 

 affections, his efforts far transcend his ordinary tones, and a continuous melody 

 flows forth, until, exhausted with his vocal effort, he sinks to the level of his spouse 

 in the tree-top." 



These Finches travel at times in flocks and are at all times somewhat grega- 

 rious, and this trait has made them an easy prey for bird-catchers, and Mr. For- 

 bush tells us that, " If a bird of this species is confined in a trap-cage in spring 

 and exposed in a conspicuous place, most of the Purple Finches in the neighbor- 

 hood may be trapped. The greater part of the so-cafled 'Linnets' in many 

 localities have been taken in this way, despite the law and its officers, who are on 

 the lookout for the law-breakers. The birds have been sold in the bird stores or 

 sent to Europe as red or gray Linnets. This may account for a local scarcity of this 

 Finch in some places where it was formerly common." 



The Purple Finch, though, like many others, it hunts for suc- 

 His Food culent food, apple and cherry blossoms in the spring, has a decided 



economic value; for, the season through, it feeds upon orchard and 

 woodland caterpillars, lice, cankerworms, and when these are out of date it con- 

 sumes quantities of the seeds of injurious plants, including the noxious ragweed. 



