THE PURPLE FINCH 



{Cafpodacus purpureus.^ 



The Purple Finch, or more properly 

 speaking, a full-grown male Purple 

 Finch is one of our most attractive 

 birds. He looks much like an English 

 sparrow that has been dipped into a 

 purplish red dye, the stain taking best 

 on the head. The color does not usually 

 catch the eye so far as the bright hues 

 of the cardinal or jay, but when the 

 sun glints upon them just right, they 

 flash out like a mixture of ruby and 

 amethyst, and produce a really brilliant 

 effect. The first of these birds which 1 

 ever saw, were perched on low weeds 

 one winter day, and with the snow for a 

 background and the rays of the setting 

 sun for illuminating effects, they showed 

 the creatures to the best possible ad- 

 vantage, and made our first meeting a 

 thing to be always remembered with 

 pleasure. The female and young look 

 much like English sparrows, pure and 

 simple. 



The resemblance between the Purple 

 Finch and English sparrow is not, in- 

 deed a matter of accident, for they are 

 very closely related, this bird being the 

 closest relative of the obnoxious emi- 

 grant we have. Really the bird of our 

 sketch has no occasion to be proud of 

 his relatives, for another member of 

 his own genus, the house-finch of the 

 western states, is as much a nuisance 

 about dwellings as th^. English sparrow 

 is with us. 



The dwellers of our central states 

 know the Purple Finch chiefly as an oc- 



casional migrant, passing through north- 

 ward in spring or southward in the au- 

 tumn. Farther south, as about in the 

 latitude of Kentucky, they are known 

 as winter residents, while farther north, 

 at about the latitude of Michigan and 

 beyond, they are summer residents, and 

 breed. Like another close relative, the 

 red cross-bill, which they resemble 

 somewhat in general color, they are 

 fond of nesting in evergreen trees. The 

 nests are frequently well-built and com- 

 pact, and contain, when fully furnished, 

 four or five pale green, speckled eggs. 

 During its nuptial season and sometines 

 during its migration the bird has a 

 sweet warble, and it nearly always utters 

 call-notes now and then by which one 

 familiar with it may recognize it. The 

 bird is chiefly a vegetarian, feeding 

 mainly on weed seeds. At its winter 

 home at Washington, I have observed 

 it in small flocks feeding heartily on the 

 tulip tree. It is also fond of slippery- 

 elm buds, a taste which it shares with 

 its disreputable European relative. 



While the bird is on the whole not 

 of great economic importance in a posi- 

 tively beneficial way, it is comparatively 

 free from faults, and there is very little 

 danger that it will ever become a nui- 

 sance, as it shows no particular tendency 

 to collect and multiply about houses, and 

 it does not display the pugnacity of the 

 English sparrow. 



H. Walton Clark. 



I hear no more the robin's summer song 



Through the gray network of the wintry woods : 



Only the cawing crows that all day long 

 Clamor about the windy solitudes. 



— Christopher P. Cranch, "December." 



62 



