8 
Cooper on Nest and Eggs of 
NOTES ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF GARPODAGUS PUR - 
PURE US var. GA LIFORNI G US, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF 
ITS NEST AND EGGS. 
BY WILLIAM A. COOPER. 
My attention was called to an article in the April number of 
“The Nuttall Bulletin” relative to the nest and eggs of the Cali- 
fornia Purple Finch. As my experience does not corroborate the' 
description there given, but differs widely from it, I send the follow- 
ing account of several nests and sets of eggs, fearing the article in 
question may mislead many whose knowledge may be restricted 
to published information. About ten nests of this bird have come 
under my observation during the last ten years. Of each of these 
the framework was loosely constructed, a portion of each nest being 
formed of pieces of Scrophularia nodosa , some of these being, en- 
tirely of this plant. I have never found a nest in a fork, and they 
are usually placed at a considerable distance from the ground. 
Favorite situations are the tops of tall willows, alders, trees covered 
with climbing ivy, and horizontal branches of redwoods. The var. 
calif ornicus is as abundant around Santa Cruz as is the C. frontalis ; 
but while the latter breeds in the gardens throughout the city, the 
former retires to the wooded river-bottoms, or the hills back of the 
town. Being unacquainted with the particulars concerning the cap- 
ture of the male parent bird, or with its captor (Mr. C. A. Allen), I 
am unwilling to take the ground that the nest and eggs referred to 
are not genuine ; but the chances of a mistaken parentage appear 
quite probable. 
Four nests and sets of eggs of var. californicus give the following 
characters : — 
1. May 30, 1875, I found a nest containing five eggs; incuba- 
tion a few days advanced. The nest measured 6 inches in diame- 
ter outside, 2.50 inside, depth 2.50 outside, 1.38 inside ; the frame- 
work was of fine dried tops of Scrophularia, loosely put together ; 
the inner consisted of fine denuded vegetable fibres, soft woolly sub- 
stances, compactly made, lined with a few hairs. The nest was 
placed on a horizontal branch of an alder-tree, forty feet high, built 
on the top of a limb and barely fastened to it. One egg was 
broken ; the remaining four measure .80 x .58, .80 x .55, .80 x .55, 
