356 NEIfTS AND HoaH Of 



than at the end. Mr. Cooper gives the sizes of a set of four taken May 2, as .83z.57, 

 .81X.56, .81X.56, .81x.56, .80x.54;t another set, taken May 3, give the following measure- 

 ments: .75X.55, .73X.56, .72x.56, .71x.57*' 



518. CASSIN'S PUBRLE FIUCH.- CarpOdacus cassini Balrd. Geog. Dist.— 

 Western United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific north to British Co- 



'lumbia, south over the highlands of Mexico. 



A common bird in Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Eastern California. Its general 

 habits, nesting and eggs are very similar to thbse of the Purple Finch of the East. 

 The nest is found in various situations, box-alder bushes, the tops of cottonwood, 

 aspen and pine trees. It is composed principally of roots and twigs, lined with 

 softer material of the same, together with moss and cotton. The eggs are usually 

 four in number, and a typical specimen is oval in shape, pointed at the smaller end. 

 The color is light bluish-green, dotted around the larger end with slate, lilac and 

 blackish-brown. The average size is .84x.62. 



519. HOUSE PINCH. Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis (Say.) Geog. Dist. — 

 Western United States, from the Rocky Mountains to Pacific coast (chiefly south of 

 40° in the interior), and south through Western and Central Mexico to Colima and 

 Guanajuato, Lower California. (Ridgw.) 



This bird is known as the Red-headed Linnet or Burion. We also include under 

 this head the supposed race C. frontalis rhodocolpus (Cab.) It is a very common bird 

 in the interior region of the United. States, from Nevada, Utah and Colorado south- 

 ward, and is also abundant on the Pacific coast. Mr. Shields mentions this as one of 

 the best known birds of Southern California. Prof « Evermann found It to be by far 

 the most common bird of Ventura county, and obtained the first full complement 

 of eggs early in April. The bird will place its nest anywhere, from the limb of any 

 tree to the side of a haystack or a tin can on a porch. It is made of anything that 

 the bird Happens to find handy — grasses, straws, roots, etc., and the nest of an 

 Oriole or Cliff Swallow is often occupied. Mr. Shields states that in Los Angeles 

 county, California, this species begins nesting in the first part of April, and eggs may 

 be found from that time into the first of July. Two, and sometimes three broods are 

 reared in a season. The eggs are four or five, usually five in number; -their color is 

 of a pale bluish or, as some would call it, pale greenish-blue, sparsely marked with 

 spots, specks and lines of very dark brown or black, chiefly around the larger end. 

 Some specimens before me are unmarked. An average set of five eggs otter the fol- 

 lowing measurements: .82x.57, .85x.54, .84x.55, .83x.54, .82x.52. The average of 

 twenty specimens is .82x.58. 



519o. ST. LUCAS HOUSE PINCH. Carpodacus mexicanus ruherrimns Ridgw. 

 Geog. Dist. — Lower California and probably adjacent pa.rts of Sonora. 



Mr. Walter B. Bryant found this variety of the House Finch breeding at Comon- 

 du. Lower California, where most of the nests were placed in palm trees. A nest 

 containing two fresh eggs was collected March 31 from the under side of a veranda 

 awning of an adohe house amongst the thick vine branches. Mr. Bryant says: "The 

 nest was like simjiar ones of this genus adapted to the space wherein it was built, 

 and. composed of Such material as was nearest at hand. In this case rootlets, a bit 

 Qf ra.g and considerable wild cotton, enter into the external composition, while a few 

 shreds from plant stalks, a quantity of wild cotton, and lastly, some horse hairs com- 



• Bnli. Nutt. Ornith. Club, III, pp. 8-10. 



