THE PURPLE FINCH. 
171 
alight all at once, and after a moment of rest, and as if frightened, all take tc 
wing again, make a circuit of no great extent, and return to the tree from 
which they had thus started, or settle upon one near it. Immediately after 
this, every individual is seen making its way toward the extremities of the 
branches, husking the buds with great tact, and eating their internal portion. 
In doing this, they hang like so many Titmice, or stretch out their necks to 
reach the buds below. Although they are quite friendly among themselves 
during their flight, or while sitting without looking after food, yet, when 
they are feeding, the moment one goes near another, it is strenuously warned 
to keep off by certain unequivocal marks of displeasure, such as the erection 
of the feathers of the head and the opening of the mouth. Should this 
intimation be disregarded, the stronger or more daring of the two drives off 
the other to a different part of the tree. They feed in this manner princi- 
pally in the morning, and afterwards retire to the interior of the woods. 
Towards sunset they reappear, fly about the skirts of the fields and along 
the woods, until, having made choice of a tree, they alight, and, as soon as 
each bird has chosen a situation, stand still, look about them, plume them- 
selves, and make short sallies after flies and other insects, but without inter- 
fering with each other. They frequently utter a single rather mellow clink, 
and are seen occupied in this manner until near sunset, when they again fly 
off to the interior of the forest. I one night surprised a party of them 
roosting in a small holly tree, as I happened to be brushing by it. In their 
consternation they suddenly started all together, and in the same direction, 
when, not knowing what birds they were, I shot at them and brought down 
two. 
It is remarkable that, at this season, males in full beauty of plumage are 
as numerous as during the summer months in far more northern parts, where 
they breed ; and you may see different gradations of plumage, from the 
dingy greenish-brown of the female and young to the richest tints of the 
oldest and handsomest male ; while all along with these there are others 
which, by my habit of examining birds, I knew to be old, and which are 
of a yellowish-green, neither the colour of the young males, nor that of 
the females, but a mixture of all. 
The song of the Purple Finch is sweet and continued, and I have en- 
joyed it much during the spring and summer months, in the mountainous 
parts of Pennsylvania, where it occasionally breeds, particularly about the 
Great Pine Forest, where, although I did not find any nests, I saw pairs 
of these birds flying about and feeding their young, which could not have 
been many days out, and were not fully fledged. The food which they 
carried to their young consisted of insects, small berries, and the juicy 
part of the cones of the spruce pine. 
