PURPLE PINCH. 31 



woodland's edge. To-day these birds are cortiTnon in all the larger orchards, especially 

 where evergreens were planted largely for ornament and shelter. At present we may 

 look for them as far south as Milwaukee, and even at Waukegan in northern Illinois 

 they have been seen during the breeding season. 



This beautiful bird is easily observed when it sings. Perched in the top of a tall 

 tree, or on the roof of the house and bam, it sings almost incessantly in the early 

 morning'. Its crimson color, most intense on the head, mixed with dusky streaks on 

 the back, its habit of erecting the feathers on the head while singing, and its loud, 

 melodious, and varied strain combine to make it a very conspicuous objedl wherever it 

 occurs. 



The song is exceedingly beautiful, liquid, and sprightly, but the different individuals 

 differ considerably in scope and capacity of their notes. Usually the bird sits high in 

 the top of an evergreen or another tree while singing, but I often have observed it on 

 fences and posts, w^arbling with ecstacy and keeping its wings in rapid vibration. We 

 may hear the song at all hours of the day, even at noon, when most other birds are 

 silent. 



Although breeding by preference in most thickly settled and well cultivated locali- 

 ties, it is exceedingly difficult to find the nest of the Purple Finch in the dense evergreens, 

 the bird taking great care not to betray its location. The nests found by me in Sheboygan 

 County, Wis., were usually built in dense horizontal branches of spruces and firs, not 

 far from the trunk and at a moderate distance from the ground. Several were also dis- 

 covered by me in apple trees. The materials employed in building the nest are pine 

 needles, grasses, weed-stems, rootlets, bark-strips, fibers of asclepias, hemp, wool, and 

 strings. The lining of the rather shallow structure consists of hairs, and sometimes of 

 pine needles and hemp-like fibers. 



Dr. T. M. Brewer's excellent opportunities of studying the Purple Finch have been 

 fully utilized in his contribution to the biography of this species in "A History of North 

 American Birds." I extract his account in full: 



"The Purple Finch, or, as it is generally known in New England, the Linnet, is 

 one of our sweetest, best, and most constant songsters, and is often trapped and sold 

 as caged birds. They soon become accustomed and partially reconciled to their con- 

 finement, but sing only during a small part of the year. When one of these birds, 

 confined in a cage, is hung outside the house in the country, he is sure to draw around 

 him quite a number of his species, and this furnishes the dealer a ready means of cap- 

 turing them. 



"This Finch was once regarded as quite rare in the vicinity of Boston, so much 

 so that during a four years' residence in Cambridge, when collections of nests and eggs 

 had many votaries, not a single nest of this species was obtained by any one. Since 

 then, from some cause, probably the increase of gardens, rows of evergreens, and other 

 localities favorable for their preservation and reproduction, these graceful little Finches 

 have become quite abundant in places, propitious for their residence. No less than seven 

 pairs of these favorite songsters took up their abode in my grounds at Hingham in a 

 single summer, and two had nests in the same tree, one of which was at least sixty 

 feet from the ground, on the very top of -a tall fir. These several pairs as a general 



