The Cassin Purple Finch 



The male Cassin, on the other hand, is"a gallant suitor and a good 

 provider. When his heart is warmed with the fresh stirrings of passion, 

 he fills the woodland with melody. He twitters good-fellow greetings to 

 every passerby, and he tries the summits, first of one pine tree and then 

 of another, honoring each with a sprightly round of song. If the notes 

 are his own, they are poured out in a quick flood, lasting, perhaps, only two 

 seconds. They are somewhat lighter in character, less rounded and 

 mellow than the perfect flutings of the California Purple Finch. But 



Taken in Mono County 



Photo by the Author 



FEMALE CASSIN PURPLE FINCH ON NEST IN 

 LODGE-POLE PINE 



there is dash and brightness about them which is infectious. Like cousin 

 purpureas, the Cassin helps himself freely to the common fund of wood- 

 land music. His obligation is unconscious — he is no mimic; but I have 

 heard Western Lark Sparrow (carried up several thousand feet) , Western 

 Vesper Sparrow, Mountain Bluebird, and Western Tanager peeping out 

 through Cassin's throat. Once, on Shasta, to our great delight, we heard 

 the theme of the Townsend Solitaire. The exalted opening was purely 

 Myadestine, but the quaver and jumble which followed were Carpodacine. 

 Another medley heard in the Warner Mountains contained songs of the 

 Sierra Junco, the Western Wood Pewee and the Western Ruby-crowned 

 Kinglet. If a musician is known, so infallibly, by the company he keeps, 

 we will not complain either of Cassin's morals or his art. 



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