Plate LXVIII. 
Fig 8. CARPODAOUS PURPUREUS-Purple Finch. 
f- 
This beautiful representative of the family of Fringillidae is found in summer only in the north- 
eastern part of the State, and then in limited numbers. In other sections it is occasionally seen in 
the spring and fall, and in the extreme southern counties, even in winter. It builds in May, or early 
June for the first brood, and late in July for the second. 
LOCALITY : 
At Geneva, IN’. Y., where the Purple Finch is one of the commonest summer residents, it builds 
almost exclusively in evergreen trees about town and country lawns. I have also known it to build in 
a pear tree. During its migrations in spring it usually frequents woods, where it feeds upon the buds 
of the trees and seeds; but later, when the foliage is fully started, it chooses more open ground. In the 
campus of Hobart College, I have taken numbers of their nests from the ornamental pines, cedars, and 
firs, which adorn the grounds. 
POSITION - r 
These nests were invariably near the top of the trees, no matter how low or tall they happened to 
be, and were usually situated upon a small branch or two, close to the main trunk. Dr. Brewer has 
known this nest to be placed not more than five feet from the ground, and at other times near the top 
of a lofty fir tree. The majority of nests are probably within fifteen feet of the ground. 
MATERIALS : 
Dr. Brewer says : “ The nests are, for the most part, somewhat flat and shallow structures, not more 
than two and a half inches in height, and about three and a half in breadth. The walls of the nest 
average less than an inch, and the cavity corresponds to its general shape and form. The frame-work of 
the nest is usually made of small denuded vegetable fibers, stems of grasses, strips of bark, and woody 
fragments. The upper rim of the nest is often a curious intertwining of dry herbaceous stems, the ends 
of which project above the nest itself, in the manner of a low palisade. The inner nest is made up of 
minute vegetable fibers, closely interwoven. There is usually no other lining than this. At other times, 
these nests are largely made up of small, dark colored rootlets of wooded plants, lined with finer materials 
of the same, occasionally mingled with the down of birds and the fur of small animals.” 
A nest before me, a fair representative of the species, is composed of a foundation and superstructure 
of brown roots, the coarsest being in the foundation; many of these are one-sixteenth of an inch in 
diameter by six or eight inches in length. They are arranged circularly and form a ragged looking 
exterior, about five inches in diameter outside of the loosest rootlets. Within the superstructure 
is a beautifully wrought lining, with walls about three-eighths of an inch thick, of the very finest, light 
303 
