to the warblings of the Vireo flavifrons, but the passages in its song as much excel those of the Vireo in sweetness as they are surpassed in richness by the warblings of the latter. When one of two females of this species had been killed, the survivor, missing her companion, returned immediately to the tree and hopped from branch to branch, and then alighted on the ground by the side of her dead associate, lamenting her in sweet and plaintive cries.
By the 4th of April the pine-trees about Carson City were alive with these handsome birds, all of whom were in full song. So many were singing simultaneously that the chorus was almost deafening, yet was most exquisitely pleasing.
The nests of this bird were found by Mr. Ridgway in various situations, such as a box-elder bush, the tops of cottonwood and aspen trees, and similar situations. The eggs, four in number, are in size .82 by .63 of an inch, oval in shape, pointed at the smaller end, of a light bluish-green ground, dotted around the larger end with slate, lilac, and a blackish-brown.
Specimens were obtained by Dr. Sartorius, during the breeding-season (June, 1864), in the pine forests of Mt. Orizaba. A careful comparison shows no difference from birds procured in the same month in Nevada.
Carpodacus purpureus, Gray.
EASTERN PURPLE FINCH.
Fringilla purpurea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 923.—Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 119, pl. vii, f. 4.—Ib. V, 1812, 87, pl. xlii, f. 3.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 24; V, 200, pl. iv. Hæmorrhous purpurea, Swainson, Birds, II, 1837, 295. Erythrospiza purpurea, Bp. List, 1838.—Aud. Birds Am. III, 1841, 170, pl. cxcvi. Carpodacus purpureus, Gray’s Genera, 1844-49.—Bon. & Schlegel, Mon. des Loxiens, 14, tab. xv.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 412.—Samuels, Birds N. Eng. 285. ? Loxia violacea, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1766, 306, 43. (Very uncertain.) Purple Finch, Catesby, Pennant, Lath. Hemp-Bird, Bartram.
Sp. Char. Second quill longest; first shorter than third, considerably longer than the fourth. Body crimson, palest on the rump and breast, darkest across the middle of back and wing-coverts, where the feathers have dusky centres. The red extends below continuously to the lower part of the breast, and in spots to the tibiæ. The belly and under tail-coverts white, streaked faintly with brown, except in the very middle. Edges of wings and tail-feathers brownish-red; lesser coverts like the back. Two reddish bands across the wings (over the ends of the middle and greater coverts). Lores dull grayish. Length, 6.25 inches; wing, 3.34; tail, 2.50; bill above, .46. Female. Olivaceous-brown above; brighter on the rump. Beneath white; all the feathers everywhere streaked with brown, except on the middle of the belly and under coverts. A superciliary light stripe.
Hab. North America, from Atlantic to the high Central Plains.
Habits. The Purple Finch is a common species from Georgia to the plains of the Saskatchewan, and as far west as the Great Plains, beyond which it seems to be replaced by another race, or closely allied species. It breeds from about latitude 40° to perhaps 60°, and in most parts between these