PURPLE FINCH. j 2 1 



establish, that the crimson-headed finch of Pennant and Latham, 

 the purple finch of the same and other naturalists, the hemp bird 

 of Bartram, and the Fringilla rosea of Pallas, are one and the 

 same, viz., the purple finch, the subject of the present article.* 

 The purple finch is six inches in length and nine in extent ; 

 head, neck, back, breast, rump, and tail-coverts, dark crimson, 

 deepest on the head and chin, and lightest on the lower part 

 of the breast ; the back is streaked with dusky ; the wings 

 and tail are also dusky black, edged with reddish ; the latter 

 a good deal forked ; round the base of the bill, the recumbent 

 feathers are of a light clay or cream colour ; belly and vent, 

 white ; sides under the wings, streaked with dull reddish ; 

 legs, a dirty purplish flesh colour ; bill, short, strong, conical, 

 and of a dusky horn colour ; iris, dark hazel ; the feathers 



* The present figure is that of an adult male, and that sex in the 

 winter state is again figured and described in the second volume. Bona- 

 parte has shown that "Wilson is wrong in making the F. rosea of Pallas 

 and the Loxia erythrina of Gmelin the same with his bird. Mr Swain^- 

 son remarks, "We are almost persuaded that there are two distinct 

 species of these purple finches, which not only Wilson, but all the 

 modern ornithologists of America, have confounded under the same 

 name." We may reasonably conclude, then, that another allied species 

 may yet be discovered, and that perhaps Wilson was wrong regarding 

 birds which he took for the F. rosea. 



F. purpurea and Pyrrhula frontalis of Say and Bonaparte will rank as 

 a subgenus in Pyrrhula, and, from the description of their habits, ap- 

 proach very near to both the crossbills and pine grosbeaks. 



By the attention of the Prince of Musignano, I have received his 

 review of Cuvier's Regne Animal, and am now enabled to state from it the 

 opinion of that ornithologist regarding the station of these birds. He 

 agrees in the subordinate rank of the group, and its alliance to the 

 finches, bullfinches, and Coccothraustes or hawkfinch, and proposes the 

 subgeneric name of Erytlirospiza, which I have provisionally adopted, 

 having Fringilla purpurea of Wilson as typical, and containing Pyrrhula 

 frontalis, Say and Bonap. ; P. githaginea, Temm. PI. Col. ; Loxia 

 Siherica, Falck. ; L. rosea, Pall. ; L. erythrina, Pall. ; P. synoica, Temm. 

 PL CoL ; and L. rubicilla, Lath. According to the list of species which 

 he has mentioned, and which we have no present opportunity of com- 

 paring with the true type, the group will have a very extensive distri- 

 bution over America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. — Ed. 



