H 
TWENTY-SIX COMMON BIRDS. 
is often chosen for the new nest. Sometimes three nests of differ* 
ent years hang side by side. It is unnecessary to describe the search 
for fibrous material, the skillful and patient weaving, or the noisy 
encouragement of the male; the nest finally hangs complete, of 
a beautiful color, which soon changes to weatherbeaten gray. 
In this are laid from four to six eggs, dull white, blotched with 
dark brown, which hatch in June; toward the end of the month 
the peevish cry of the young is a characteristic note. The young, 
which, like the female, are smaller and paler than the male, are 
out in July, and by the end of August the Orioles leave us for 
Central America. 
PURPLE FINCH* 2. 
[CARPODACUS PURPUREUS.] 
This handsome and attractive bird has won a place in our 
affections by its beauty, by the sweetness and power of its song, and 
by its confidence in building its nest near us. Except in the 
breeding season Purple Finches are to be found in roving bands, 
attracted, doubtless, to this region and that by the destribution of the 
berries which form their favorite food. In the summer they eat 
insects and fruit, in the fall the berries of the mountain ash and 
the honeysuckle, and in winter the fruit of juniper, hemlock, 
hornbeam and spruces. In the spring they feed on buds, and 
have been accused of doing damage at this season to the trees; it 
has not, however, been satisfactorily shown either that they injure 
the trees or reduce the crop. The nest of the Purple Finch is 
built of coarse fibrous material, and is placed in the fork of a limb 
from five to twenty feet from the ground. Evergreen trees in the 
vicinity of houses are favorite nesting places. The bird lays four 
or five eggs of pale greenish, lightly marked with specks and 
scrawls of lilac and black. Two broods are often raised. The 
female and young resemble their relatives, the sparrows, in the 
brown streakings with which they are marked. The thick bill and 
a white line over the eye, as well as the deeply forked tail, will help 
