PURPLE FINCH. ! m 



tongue, thin, broad, tapering near the end, and bifid ; the eye 

 is of a dark hazel, and the whole bill of a dusky light blue. 

 The female differs very little in colour from the male ; the 

 yellow on the breast and round the eye is duller, and the 

 white on the wings less pure. 



PUKPLE FINCH. {Fringilla purpurea) 



PLATE VII. —Fig. 4. 



Fringilla purpurea, Gmel. Syst. i. 923.— Bouvreuil violet de la Caroline, Buff. iv. 

 395.— Purple Finch, Arct. Zool. ii. No. 258. — Catesb. i. 41. — Lath. Synop. iii. 

 275, 39. — Crimson-headed Finch, Arct. Zool. ii. No. 257. — Lath. Synop. iii. 

 275, 39.— Gmel. Syst. i. 864.— Fringilla rosea Pallas, iii. 699, 26.— Hemp Bird, 

 Bartram, 291. — Fringilla purpurea, Id. 291. — Peale's Museum, No. 6504. 



EB YTEBOSPIZA P URP UREA. —Bonaparte. 



Fringilla purpurea, Bonap. Synop. p. 114. — Purple Finch, Aud. i. p. 24. PI, iv. 

 — Fringilla purpurea, Crested Purple Finch, North. Zool. ii. p. 264. — Erythros- 

 piza purpurea, Osserv. di C. L. Bonap. Sulla Sec. Ed. del. Cuv. Reg. Anim. 

 p. 80. 



This is a winter bird of passage, coming to us in large flocks 

 from the north in September and October ; great numbers 

 remaining with us in Pennslyvania during the whole winter, 

 feeding on the seeds of the poplar, button-wood, juniper, 

 cedar, and on those of many rank weeds that flourish in rich 

 bottoms and along the margin of creeks. When the season 

 is very severe, they proceed to the south, as far at least 

 as Georgia, returning north early in April. They now 

 frequent the elm trees, feeding on the slender but sweet 

 covering of the flowers ; and as soon as the cherries put out 

 their blossoms, feed almost exclusively on the stamina of the 

 flowers ; afterwards the apple blossoms are attacked in the 

 same manner ; and their depredations on these continue 

 till they disappear, which is usually about the 10th or middle 

 of May. I have been told, that they sometimes breed in the 

 northern parts of New York, but have never met with their 

 nests. About the middle of September, I have found these 



