118 BIRDS 



the female, but with oUve-yellow on chin and lower back. 

 Afterward: entire body suflFused with a raspberry-red, 

 deepest on head, lower back, and breast; other parts 

 only faintly washed with this color. More brown on 

 back; wings and tail, which are dusky, have some red- 

 dish-brown feathers. Underneath grayish white. Bill 

 heavy. Tail forked. 



Female — Grayish brown above; whitish below; finely 

 streaked everywhere with very dark brown, like a spar- 

 row. Sides of breast have arrow-shaped marks. Wings 

 and tail darkest. 



Range — North America, from Columbia River eastward to 

 Atlantic, and from Mexico northward to Manitoba. 

 Most common in Middle states and New England. 

 Winters south of Pennsylvania. 



Migrations — ^March. November. Common summer resi- 

 dent. Rarely individuals winter at the North. 



In this "much be-sparrowed country" of oiU"S, familiarity 

 is apt to breed contempt for any bird that looks sparrowy, 

 in which case one of the most delicious songsters we have 

 might easily be overlooked. It is not until the purple 

 finch reaches maturity that his plumage takes on the rasp- 

 berry-red tints that some ornithologists named purple. 

 It would seem as if the people who named most of our birds 

 and wild flowers must have been color-bhnd. Old rose is 

 more nearly the color of this finch which looks like a brown 

 sparrow that had been dipped in a bath of raspberry 

 juice and left out in the sun to fade. But only the mature 

 males wear this color, which is deepest on their head, 

 rump, and breast. Their sons are decidedly sparrowy 

 until the second year and their wives look so much like the 



