FBINGILLIDuE : FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, ETC. 347 
9.50-10.00; wing about 3.00. Young $ cannot be certainly distinguished from $ ; in general, 
duller and grayer brown, with less of tlie olive shade; the red first shows pale or bronzy in 
slight touches. Cage-birds sometimes turn yellowish after moulting, as is the case with 
various other red finches. U. S. from Atlantic to Pacific, excepting probably the Southern 
Rocky Mt. region ; N. to Labrador and the Saskatchewan. Breeds from the Middle States 
northward ; winters in most of the U. S., particularly the M. and S. States. An engaging 
bird, of bright colors and sweet song, and many amiable traits, among them its fondness for 
the society of man ; it comes fearlessly about our houses to build its own, which is generally 
situated on a horizontal bough or fork, composed of the most miscellaneous materials, almost 
any vegetable fibre being available for the flat and shallow structure ; it is usually lined with 
hair, and the eggs, to the number of 4 or 5, are pale dull greenish, or almost whitish, sparsely 
sprinkled and scratched with blackish surface-markings and lilac shell-spots ; size about 0.85 
X 0.05 ; two broods are often reared. When not breeding the birds are generally found in 
flocks, and it is to be feared they do damage in the spring to the blossoms of fruit-trees. 
195. C. cassi'ni. (To John Cassin.) Cassin's Purple Finch. Adult $ : In highest plumage 
duller than C. purpureus, excepting on crown. Middle of the back brown, tinged with red, 
the feathers dusky-centred, gray-edged ; crown crimson, the cap not so extensive as in purpu- 
reus, and quite well defined, separated by a dusky and gray interval from the color of the back. 
Under tail-coverts with dusky shaft lines, usually wanting in purpureus. Larger : length 
6.50-7.00 ; extent 11.00-11.50; wing 3.50; tail 2.50; bill at least 0.50 along culmen, usually 
more, relatively less turgid than in purpureus. Iris brown ; feet blackish-brown ; bill above 
dark bluish horn-color, below dusky flesh-tinted. The sexual changes are the same as in the 
last species ; it is not so easy to distinguish the 9 ^'^^ young $ from those of purpureus, but 
they are larger, with longer and less tumid bill, and more streaked on the crissum. Yery 
young birds have an ochraceous or light rufous suft'usion, especially noticeable on the under 
parts; the streaks are more numerous and difl'use. Rocky Mts. of U. S. and westward, espe- 
cially the Southern Rocky Mt. region, as Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico; N. to 
British Columbia ; E. to Wind River mountains ; S. to table lands of Mexico. Habits the 
same as those of the purple finch ; eggs not fairly distinguishable. 
196. C. frontalis. (Lat. frontalis, pertaining to the front.) Crimson-fronted Finch. House 
Finch. Burion. Adult $ : Grayish-brown above, somewhat varied with darker centres and 
paler edges of the feathers, and for the most part tinged with red. Below dull white, streaked 
with dark brown, often tinged with red. Fore part of crown, superciliary line, rump, throat, 
breast and sometimes side of head, crimson. Wings and tail dark brown, with narrow pale 
edgings. Bill dusky-brown above, paler below ; feet and eyes brown. Length about 6.00 ; 
extent scarcely 10.00; wing 3.00; tail 2.50; scarcely forked; tarsus 0.67; bill 0.40, very 
turgid, almost as in Pinicola or Pyrrhula. 9 : Like but without any red; upper parts 
more varied with darker centres and paler edges of the feathers, and entire under parts streaked 
I like belly of $ . Young $ resembles the 9 , but at an early age is browner, and apt to have 
buff'y edgings of the wings. Colors of adult $ as variable as those of j^inpurejcs or more so. 
In winter, the red less intense and more diffuse, and may have a rosy or purplish tint, or be 
interrupted wdth grayish edgings of the feathers. Generally in the Colorado Yalley, where the 
typical form is developed, the red is restricted to the parts said, but the constant tendency is to 
spread ; the back and belly have usually in fact a tinge of red, and in some cases the whole 
head and fore parts are thus encrimsoned. U. S., rather southerly, from the Rocky Mts. to the 
interior ranges of California ; Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico ; abundant in 
those regions, and as familiar as a swallow or chip-bird, nesting in the streets and gardens, 
where its bright colors, hearty song, and sprightly ways make it a welcome visitor. The nest- 
ing is like that of the purple finch in essential particulars ; the eggs are smaller, paler, and of 
more fugitive bluish tint, with the blackish sprinkling sparser; size 0.68 X 0.60 to 0.75 XO.54!. 
