Notes from Maine. 
John L. Goo dale, Saco, Ms. 
On June 10 I collected a fine set of five 
eggs of the Purple Finch. This bird is not 
very rare, but its nests are not often found, 
as they hide them very nicely in the top of 
some thick tree in the woods. I found this 
one, however, in aryrpple tree, while looking 
for something else. It was utterly impossi- 
ble to see the nest farther off than two or three 
feet, so well was it hidden. 
O.&O.Vol. 18, Sept. 1893 P.129 
Many Purple Finches at Portland, Maine, in February. — The 
mountain ash trees in the Western Promenade section of Portland at- 
tracted no Robins, 1 under my observation, during the very cold winter of 
1911-1912; but they nourished an extraordinary number of Purple Finches 
( Carpodacus purpureus purpureus) in the month of February. On Feb. 2 
I saw four birds together, at least one of them being in rosy plumage. 
On Feb. 28, about 9.30 a. m., I counted fourteen birds in one tree, most 
of which were in rosy plumage. On Feb. 29, about 2.30 p. m., I counted 
fifty-five birds in and about seven mountain ash trees, twenty-two of them 
being at one tree and a majority of the total number, apparently, in rosy 
plumage. On each one of these occasions all the birds were sluggish and 
rather silent. 
Since the first announcement, 2 of the wintering of this species at Portland, 
twenty-four years ago, it has been seen by several observers, and there are 
winter records which need not here be cited, for other localities in Maine; 
but I believe it has not hitherto been noted except in small numbers. — 
Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Me. 
no 
