SPARROWS 
385 
Distinctions. To be seriously confused only with Cassin’s Finch of the interior of 
British Columbia. The adult male is red like the Pine Grosbeak, but very much smaller; 
the female and juveniles, with their considerable olive streaking, are quite distinctive 
from that species. This Purple Finch may bear a superficial resemblance to the cross- 
bills, but is larger and the mandibles are not crossed (Compare with Figure 468). From 
Cassin’s Finch, it can be distinguished only by attention to small details. The crown 
of the adult male is solid rosy, but not as bright as in Cassin’s and if blends into the nape 
without forming a definite cap. In other plumages the olive is of a slightly darker shade 
and the streakings below are softer. The undertail-coverts are generally unstreaked, 
or at least never so sharply, and the bird is appreciably smaller. A bird, though within 
the normal range of Cassin’s Finch, with a wing of 3-3 inches or under, is probably this 
species. 
Field Marks. Size, general colour of adult male, like a small Pine Grosbeak. General 
olive and white striping below of female and juvenile. Probably not separable with cer- 
tainty from Cassin’s Finch in life. That species, however, may be expected in Canada 
only in southern British Columbia east of the Coast Range, where the common Purple 
Finch does not regularly occur. 
Nesting. In coniferous trees; nest of twigs, grass, and rootlets. 
Distribution. Most of North America. In Canada, most of the wooded area, except 
British Columbia east of the Coast Range. Migrates south through the prairies. 
SUBSPECIES. The form occurring throughout most of Canada is the Eastern 
Purple Finch (le Pinson pourpre de l’Est) Carpodacus purpureus purpureas. On the west 
coast of southern British Columbia occurs the California Purple Finch (le Pinson pourpr6 
de la Californie) Carpodacus purpureus californicus. Its chief distinctions from the eastern 
race are: slightly smaller average size, more even coloration, and less striping in the red 
male, and a greener olive in the female. 
Purple Finches, so called, are not “purple” in the ordinary use of the 
term. “Magenta” would better describe it in modern terminology, but 
it has lately been said that the colour is really “purple” in the original 
application of the word. It is one of our finest songsters and is occasionally 
caged for that purpose. Like its allies, the Pine Grosbeak and the cross- 
bills, when kept in captivity it loses the bright redness of its plumage and 
assumes a ruddy yellow, so peculiar and characteristic that escaped caged 
birds can be recognized at sight. The song is a continued and clear warble 
like that of a Warbling Vireo, but more rapidly delivered. The young 
male in the autumn sings almost as well as the adult. 
Economic Status . The Common Purple Finch eats largely of buds and 
fruit. The fruit eaten is generally trifling, as the bird retires from the bor- 
ders to less cultivated sections in the breeding season and is not numerous in 
summer in fruit-growing sections. The fruits it takes are, therefore, mostly 
waste winter left-overs or wild forms, and it is specially fond of mountain-ash 
or rowan-berries. The charge that it eats buds is more serious, but so 
far has been based upon general assertions not substantiated by results of 
stomach examinations. 
518. Cassin’s Purple Finch, le pinson de cassin. Carpodacus cassini. L, 6-75. 
Almost exactly similar to the Purple Finch (Plate LXXVIII B). 
Distinctions. To be seriously confused only with the Common Purple Finch, and then 
only in the southern interior of British Columbia. Distinguished from that species by 
small details: the crown of the red male is a brighter, more crimson, red and forms a definite 
cap, and the body is pinker. In other plumages, the olive is of a slightly greyer shade, 
more of an earth brown, and the streakings below are sharper and better defined. The 
undertail-coverts are always sharply centre-streaked, and the bird is appreciably larger 
than the Common Purple Finch. A Purple Finch with wing over 3-3 is probably this 
species. Otherwise, the male has a general resemblance to the Pine Grosbeak, but is con- 
siderably smaller, and various plumages may suggest those of the crossbills, although the 
mandibles are not crossed (Compare Figure 468) and the bird is slightly larger. 
