PUttPtn FtNCH. 33 



from .92 to .81 of an inch, and their breadth from .70 to .60. Their color is a pale 

 shade of emerald-green, spotted with dark brown, almost black, chiefly about the larger 

 end. The ground-color is much brighter w^hen the eggs are fresh, and soon fades upon 

 exposure to light and even when kept in a close drawer." 



In Manitoba and the upper Mississippi valley the tinnet is a common summer 

 sojourner. Most of the birds pass the winter south of latitude 40, migrating as far 

 south as the coast region of the Gulf of Mexico. They do not move northward nor 

 southward with much precision. At Caddo, Indian Territory, in winter of 1883 — '84, 

 Prof. W. W. Cooke did not observe them until the real cold weather came ; the first flock 

 was seen January 10, and they were still present March 18. In the Ozark region of 

 south-western Missouri I usually observed them from the middle of December to the 

 first days of May. 



That painstaking and careful observing ornithologist, Mr. Otto Widmann, of 

 St. Louis, Mo., contributes the following to "Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley": 



"During the winter of 1883 — '84, flocks were found at their old stand. There were 

 not so many as in the winter of 1882 — '83, and crimson and plain birds were almost 

 equally numerous. In cold weather they keep mostly on the ground, feeding on seeds 

 of the ash; in w^arm weather they ascend to the tree tops to feed on buds. February 

 23 there was a change in the flocks ; they became larger, but there was a decrease in 

 the number of crimson birds (that is, the old males), 75 per cent, being, brown birds, 

 the balance light crimson. March 17, flocks existed, mostly of brown birds, but sing- 

 ing. March 27, the bulk departed. April 19, the species still present in small flocks, 

 mostly brown but singing much. April 28, last regular migrants. May 5, an accidental 

 party of eight or ten, all brown; May 7, a single brown bird seen." 



In northern Illinois they usually arrive in flocks about September 15, feeding mostly 

 on the seeds of hemp and sunflowers. Much has been written about the injury done 

 to the fruit crop by the Linnet's habit of eating the flower buds. While the Linnets 

 do attack the fruit buds, I have never observed that aiiy damage w^as done in this 

 respect. In good fruit years the flower buds are so abundant that it is merely a 

 thinning out of a worthless surplus, and in bad years fruit is scarce in even such loca- 

 lities, where the Purple Finch never makes its appearance. 



The Purple Finch is one of our best cage birds. While residing at Oak Park, 111., 

 I caught one in a trap cage and kept it from the fall 1875 to early spring 1879, when 

 I left for Texas. I presented the bird to a friend; he kept it until 1884, when it 

 was killed by a cat. In confinement the Linnet is very fond of sunflow^er seed, hemp, 

 Canary seed, and rice. Buds of trees, lettuce, meal worms, and grated hard boiled eggs 

 are eaten with relish in spring and summer. In confinement the Purple Finch soon loses 

 its beautiful red color. My caged bird changed on the back to brownish-yellow and on 

 the under-side the red was soon replaced by a dull light yellow. 



NAMES: Purple Finch, Linnet, Eastern Purple Pinch, Purple Linnet, Rosy Linnet, Purple Grosbeak, 

 Strawberry Bird (Connecticut), Hemp-bird and Sunflower-bird (in the West). — Purpurgimpel, Purpur- 

 fink (German). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Fringilla purpurea GmA. (\1S,8). Hsemorhous purpurea Sw. (18S7). Erythrospiza 

 purpurea Bonap. (1838). CARPODACUS PURPUREUS Gray (1844). 



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