A PRETTY HOUSE-FINCH. 



My first meeting with the bUthesome 

 house-finch of the west occurred in the 

 city of Denver, Colo. It could not prop- 

 erly be called a formal introduction, but 

 was none the less welcome on that ac- 

 count. I had scarcely stepped out upon 

 the busy street before I was accosted 

 with a kind of half twitter and half song 

 that was new to my eastern ears. "Surely 

 that is not the racket of the English 

 sparrow, it is too musical," I remarked 

 to the friend walking by my side. 



Peering among the trees and houses, 

 caring little for the people who stopped 

 to stare at me. I presently focused my 

 field-glass upon a small, finch-like bird, 

 whose body was striped with gray and 

 brown, and whose crown, face, breast 

 and rump were beautifully tinged or 

 washed with crimson. What could this 

 chipper little city chap be, with his trim 

 form and pretty manners, in such marked 

 contrast with those of the alien English 

 sparrow? Afterward he was identified 

 as the house-finch, which rejoices in the 

 high-sounding Latin name of Carpoda- 

 cus mexicanus frontalis. He is rather 

 an exclusive little bird, his range being 

 only from the eastern border of the Rocky 

 Mountains to the Pacific coast, chiefly 

 south of the fortieth degree of north lati- 

 tude in the interior regions. 



He is certainly an attractive little fel- 

 low, and I wish we could offer sufficient 

 inducements to bring him east. A bird 

 like him is a boon and an ornament to 

 the streets and parks of any city that he 

 graces with his presence. No selfish re- 

 cluse is he — no, indeed ! In no dark 

 gulch or arid wilderness, "far from hu- 

 man neighborhood," does he take up his 

 abode. He prefers the companionship of 

 man to the solitudes of nature. In this 

 respect he bears likeness to the English 

 sparrow, but l)c it remembered that there 

 the rcscm1)lance stops. Even his chir- 

 ruping is musical as he flics overhead or 

 protests from a tree or a telegraph wire 



against your ill-bred espionage. He and 

 his more plainly clad mate build a neat 

 cottage for their bairns about the houses, 

 but do not clog up the spouting and 

 make themselves a nuisance otherwise, 

 ■as is the manner of their English cousins. 



This finch is a minstrel, not one of 

 the first class perhaps, but one that mer- 

 its a high place among the minor song- 

 sters. I am tempted to call him an 

 urban Arion, for there is real melody in 

 his swinging, galloping little aria, run- 

 ning up and down the chromatic scale in 

 a remarkable way. Many times did his 

 matin voluntaries mingle with my half- 

 waking morning dreams, as he is an 

 early riser. His song is quite a compli- 

 cated performance, considerably pro- 

 longed, and delivered with great rapid- 

 ity, as if the busy minstrel were in a 

 hurry to have done so that he could get 

 at something else. 



In my rambles he was found, not only 

 in the cities of the plains, including Den- 

 ver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, but 

 also in nearly all the mountain towns 

 visited, Leadville, over ten thousand feet 

 skyward, being, I believe, an exception. 

 In the villages of Red Cliff and Glen- 

 wood, both beyond the continental 

 divide, he was the same sprightly citizen, 

 making himself very much at home. My 

 observation is that these finches are more 

 plentiful on the plains than in the higher 

 altitudes and that they seldom venture 

 farther up into the mountains than 8,000 

 or 9,000 feet. To give an example, in a 

 recent rambling trip among the Rockies a 

 few were seen at Georgetown, which is 

 8,476 feet above sea level ; but my notes 

 contain no record of this species having 

 been seen in any of the higher localities 

 visited. 



Much as this finch cherishes the society 

 of man, he is quite wary, and does not 

 fancy being watched. As long as you 

 go on your way without seeming to no- 

 tice him, he also goes on his way, com- 



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