374 
SINGING BIRDS. 
it then, by a fine crescendo, bursts into loudness and falls into 
an ecstasy of ardent and overpowering expression ; at such 
times the usual pauses of the song are forgotten, and like the 
varied lay of the Nightingale, the ravishing performer, as if in 
serious emulation, seems to study every art to produce the 
effect of brilliant and well-contrasted harmony. As he sits on 
the topmost bough of some tall sapling or more lofty tree, sur- 
veying the wide landscape, his proud voice and elevated action 
seem to bid defiance to competition ; and while thus earnestly 
engaged, he seems to fear no spectator, however near may be 
his approaches. The rapidity of his performance and the pre- 
eminent execution with which it is delivered seem almost like 
the effort of a musical-box or fine-toned, quickly moving, deli- 
cate strain on the organ. While feeding in the month of 
March these birds also utter a querulous tshippee tshee, in 
nearly the same sad and liquid tone as that uttered by the 
Yellow Birds while thus engaged. The dull-colored birds, in 
the attire of the female, do not sing either so well or in the 
same manner as the crimson-colored individuals. 
The nest of this species is, as I have observed in two in- 
stances in Cambridge, made in the horizontal branches of the 
balsam-fir. In the first, which I saw in the garden of Professor 
Farrar, it was made in a young tree about 6 feet from the 
ground. On approaching it the female sat still until I nearly 
touched her, and made very little complaint when off. The 
nest was coarse and substantial, very much like that of the 
Song Sparrow, composed of coarse grass and lined with fine 
root-fibres. From this nest was raised in a cage one of the 
young, which became exceedingly docile and affectionate, but 
was not remarkable for its song. 
In winter the Purple Finch is found regularly, though sparingly, 
through the southern and central portions of New England and in 
Ontario, and I have heard its song in mid-winter in a New Bruns- 
wick forest. 
