116 



KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



olive-yellow on head, breast, and upper tail coverts. On its 

 somewhat rare winter visits to the northern United States, it 

 comes iu flocks, and can usually be found on the sumachs and 



mountain ashes, eating 

 the berries. 



Length, 8^ ; wing, 4^ 

 (4J-5); tail, 3| ; tarsus, -| ; 

 culmen, y'g- Nortliem parts 

 of tlie nortliern hemispliere ; 

 breeding from northern New 

 England northward, and 

 wintering irregularly south- 

 ward into the northeastern 

 states. 



3. Purple Finch (517. 

 Carpddaciis ^nirj'yu reus). 

 — A common, small, 

 rosy- red -bodied bird, 

 with brownish wings 

 and tail, and whitish 

 belly. The rosy red 

 is brighter on the head, 

 breast, and rump. The female is very much like a streaky, 

 grayish-brown sparrow, having white under parts marked with 

 many spots and streaks of dark brown. Tlie female is some- 

 what difficult to determine, but the forked tail an inch shorter 

 than the wings, and the tufts of feathers over the nostrils 

 of the stout bill, distinguish it from all other birds. 



Length, 6 ; wing, 3J (3-3f) , tail, 2J ; culmen, f. North America from, 

 the Plains eastward ; breeding from New England northward (farther 

 south in the mountains), and wintering in the Middle and Southern States. 

 The House Finch ("519. Curpddariis mexicamis frontalis) of Colorado, 

 western Texas to California, is similar in size and coloring to the purple 

 finch but the tail is about square at tip. Both of these are excellent. 

 siiigLTs. The house finch is as common in the southern towns west of 

 the Rocky Mountains as the English sparrow is in the towns east of them. 



4. American Crossbill (521. Ldxia cnrvirdstra mlvor). — A 

 climbing, dall-red-bodied, small bird with blackish wings and 



Pine Grosbeak 



