Sp. Char. Larger than C. purpureus. Bill, .55 of an inch above. Second and third quills longest; first longer than fourth. Male. Above pale grayish-brown, the feathers streaked with darker brown, and with only an occasional gloss of reddish, except on the crown, which is uniform deep crimson, and on the rump. Sides of the head and neck, throat, and upper part of breast with rump, pale rose-color; rest of under parts white, very faintly and sparsely streaked with brown. Female without any red, and streaked on the head and under parts with brown. Length, 6.50; wing, 3.60; tail, 2.60.
Hab. Mountainous regions of Middle Province of United States, from Rocky Mountains to Sierra Nevada. British Columbia (Lord). City of Mexico (Sclater & Salvin, 1869, 362). Breeds in pine region of Mt. Orizaba.
This species, though somewhat resembling C. purpureus, may be easily distinguished from it by the streaked lower tail-coverts (of both sexes), and by the pileum being much more intensely red than any other portion in the male. The female resembles more in markings that of frontalis, but has an entirely different shaped bill, and is much larger; the streaks above very conspicuous, instead of nearly obsolete. The side of the head lacks the conspicuous light and dark longitudinal areas observable in purpureus.
The young of both sexes resemble the adult female, but the streaks are
less sharply defined, and the wing-feathers are broadly edged with light earth-brown.
In autumn and winter, as in all the other species, the red tints are softer and more purplish than in spring and summer.
Carpodacus frontalis.
Habits. Cassin’s Purple Finch is the largest of the American birds of this genus, and is not only conspicuously different from all in size, but also in other respects. It is found between the great Central Plains and the coast range of mountains, being one of the common birds of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Eastern California. Dr. Cooper found these birds in large numbers about Lake Tahoe in California. They were all in their brown plumage, and seemed so much like the C. californicus in their habits that he mistook them for that species. He noticed in them a very peculiar call-note as they flew, reminding him of that of Pyranga, and quite different from the other Carpodaci. The song of these birds, as he afterwards heard it, was much louder and finer than that of C. californicus, and more original in style. He is not familiar with their other habits, and has never met with them in the Colorado Valley. They have been procured from Fort Thorne, Pueblo Creek, and Alberquerque, New Mexico. Mr. Ridgway met with these birds in the Wahsatch Mountains, June 26, 1869, in Parley’s Park, Utah, where he found them breeding. Their nest was in the top of a cottonwood-tree near the cañon stream, about forty feet from the ground. It is a soft homogeneous structure, flattened in shape, and with only a slight depression. It is composed principally of roots and twigs, lined with softer materials of the same, interspersed with moss, cotton, and other soft substances. It is two inches in height with a width of four and a half inches. The cavity is about an inch deep.
In his Report on the birds of Mr. King’s survey, Mr. Ridgway states that he found this Linnet in the greatest abundance among the pines of the Sierra Nevada, near Carson City. It was next seen among the cedars and nut-pines of the East Humboldt Mountains, and again in the pine woods and cottonwood-trees along the streams on the Wahsatch Mountains. It breeds in all these localities, and is in its habits essentially, though not exclusively, resident among the pines. March 21, 1868, Mr. Ridgway observed flocks of these birds near Carson City. They were found in every portion of the woods, feeding among the branches of the pine-trees. They were all in full song, the females as well as the males. A week later he again found them common among the isolated pines in the fields at the foot of the Sierras, alighting on the trees in companies. Their notes resemble the song of the C. purpureus, but are finer and more musical. They have a great resemblance