PURPLE FINCH, OR AMERICAN LINNET. 529 
breast, middle of the belly and lining of the wings, a light carmine 
tint. The tail forked, black, the 3 exterior feathers on each side, 
white on their inner vanes for an inch or more from the tips. Bill 
white, (in the female rather dusky). Legs and feet greyish-blue. 
Irides hazel. 
BLUE GROSBEAK. 
( Fringilla coerulea, Bonap. Loxia coerulea , Wilson, iii. p. 78. pi. 
24. fig. 6. [male.] Phil. Museum, No. 5826.) 
Sp. Charact. — Deep blue ; lores and frontlet black, tail and wings 
dusky , the latter skirted with pale bay ; bill dusky -blue. — Female 
and young dark drab, tinged with blue. — The males probably 
undergo a double moult ? 
This shy, and almost solitary species, chiefly inhabits 
the warmer parts of America from Brazil to Virginia; 
stragglers occasionally also visit the lower parts of Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey, and Bullock observed them on 
the table land of Mexico. According to Wilson, it is 
nearly a silent bird, seldom singing in the cage, its usual 
note of alarm being merely a loud chuck ; though, at 
times, their musical capacity, under more favorable cir- 
cumstances, would appear, by their uttering a few low 
and sweet toned notes. They may be fed on Indian corn, 
hemp seed, millet, and the kernels of several kinds of 
berries. 
This little known species is 6 inches long, and 10 in extent ; of a 
rich purplish-blue, more dull and spotted with dusky on the back ; 
coverts of the wings edged with bay ; quills skirted with blue. Tail 
forked, edged with bluish, and sometimes slightly tipt with white. 
Legs and feet lead-color. Bill dusky-blue, inclining to horn-color. 
Eyes large, full, and black. 
PURPLE FINCH, or AMERICAN LINNET. 
(Fringilla purpurea, Gmel. Wilson, i. p. 119. pi. 7. fig. 4. [male.] 
and v. p. 87. pi. 42. fig. 3 [male in winter plumage.] Aud. pi. 4. 
Orn. i. p. 24. Loxia rosea , Vieill. Phil. Museum, No. 6504.) 
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