88 



PURPLE FINCH 



The individual figured in the plate measured six inches and 

 a quarter in length, and ten inches in extent; the bill was horn 

 colored; upper parts of the plumage brown olive strongly tinged 

 with yellow, particularly on the rump, where it was brownish yel- 

 low; from above the eye, backwards, passed a streak of white, and 

 another more irregular one from the lower mandible; feathers of 

 the crown narrow, rather long, and generally erected, but not so 

 as to form a crest; nostrils and base of the bill covered with re- 

 flected brownish hairs; eye dark hazel; wings and tail dark black- 

 ish brown, edged with olive ; first and second row of coverts tipt 

 with pale yellow; chin white; breast pale cream, marked with 

 pointed spots of deep olive brown ; belly and vent white ; legs 

 brown. This bird, with several others marked nearly in the same 

 manner, was shot April twenty-fifth, while engaged in eating the 

 buds from the beech tree. 



