A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3

by Spencer Fullerton Baird; T. M. Brewer; Robert Ridgway

parallels is a rather common bird in suitable localities. A few are occasionally found during the winter in Massachusetts, but usually they all pass farther south. In the State of South Carolina they are especially abundant throughout the winter, or from October until April.

Dr. Coues states that the Purple Finch is a very abundant winter resident near Washington, arriving early in October and remaining until May, being eminently gregarious. Stragglers were seen until nearly June, but the majority had departed as the leaves expanded. They were most common in high open woods, and were observed to feed chiefly on tender young buds of trees. They were in full song before they took their departure.

They make their first appearance in regular migrations, in Massachusetts, from the 10th to the 20th of May, and occasionally a few are seen earlier. They are often unwelcome visitors to the fruit-growers, having a great fondness for the blossoms of the peach, cherry, plum, and apple. They will also feed upon other kinds of buds and blossoms. They have a great predilection for evergreen trees, especially the fir, the spruce, and the red cedar, and most generally build their nests in these trees. In summer they feed on seeds, insects, and berries of the honeysuckle and other shrubs.

The Purple Finch, or, as it is generally known in New England, the Linnet, is one of our sweetest, best, and most constant songsters, and is often trapped and sold as caged birds. They soon become accustomed and partially reconciled to their confinement, but sing only during a small part of the year. When one of these birds, confined in a cage, is hung outside the house, in the country, he is sure to draw around him quite a number of his species, and this furnishes the dealer a ready means of capturing them.

This Finch was once regarded as quite rare in the vicinity of Boston, so much so that during a four years’ residence in Cambridge, when collections of nests and eggs had many votaries, not a single nest of this species was obtained by any one. Since then, from some cause, probably the increase of gardens, groves of evergreens, and other localities favorable for their preservation and reproduction, these graceful little Finches have become quite abundant in places propitious for their residence. No less than seven pairs of these favorite songsters took up their abode in my grounds at Hingham in a single summer, and two had nests in the same tree, one of which was at least sixty feet from the ground, on the very top of a tall fir. These several pairs, as a general thing, lived together very harmoniously, save only when one would approach too near the favorite station of another, when the latter would begin to bristle up his crest, and give very evident hints that his near presence was not agreeable. The extreme southern end of the ridge-pole of the house had been, for several summers, the favorite post for the patriarch of the flock, from which at morning and at evening he made the neighborhood vocal with his melody. If in his absence any other of these birds ventured to occupy his position, there was always sure to be a disturbance on his return, if it was not instantly vacated. These encounters were frequent,

and always very amusing. Discretion usually took the place of valor on the part of the intruder.

The song of the Purple Finch resembles that of the Canary, and though less varied and powerful, is softer, sweeter, and more touching and pleasing. The notes of this species may be heard from the last of May until late in September, and in the long summer evenings are often continued until after it is quite dark. Their song has all the beauty and pathos of the Warbling Vireo, and greatly resembles it, but is more powerful and full in tone. It is a very interesting sight to watch one of these little performers in the midst of his song. He appears perfectly absorbed in his work, his form dilates, his crest is erected, his throat expands, and he seems to be utterly unconscious of all around him. But let an intruder of his own race appear within a few feet of the singer, and the song instantly ceases, and in a violent fit of indignation he chases him away.

The flight of the Purple Finch is said by Mr. Audubon to resemble that of the Green Finch of Europe. They fly in compact flocks, with an undulating motion, alighting all at once, and then instantly, as if suddenly alarmed, take again to flight only to return to the same tree. They then immediately make each his separate way to the ends of the branches, and commence eating the buds. The food they take to their young is juicy berries and the softer portions of the young cones of the fir and spruce.

They nest generally in firs, spruces, or cedar-trees, though occasionally on the upper branches of a high apple-tree. Their nests are usually placed upon a branch, rather than interlaced between its forked twigs. I have known them not more than five feet from the ground, and at other times on the highest point of a lofty fir-tree. The nests are, for the most part, somewhat flat and shallow structures, not more than two and a half inches in height, and about three and a half in breadth. The walls of the nest average less than an inch, and the cavity corresponds to its general shape and form. The framework of the nest is usually made of small denuded vegetable fibres, stems of grasses, strips of bark, and woody fragments. The upper rim of the nest is often a curious intertwining of dry herbaceous stems, the ends of which project above the nest itself in the manner of a low palisade. The inner nest is made up of minute vegetable fibres, closely interwoven. There is usually no other lining than this. At other times these nests are largely made up of small dark-colored rootlets of wooded plants, lined with finer materials of the same, occasionally mingled with the down of birds and the fur of small animals.

The eggs of the Purple Finch vary greatly in size, and somewhat in shape. Generally they are of an oblong oval, pointed considerably at one end. Their length varies from .92 to .81 of an inch, and their breadth from .70 to .60. Their color is a pale shade of emerald-green, spotted with dark brown, almost black, chiefly about the larger end. The ground-color is much brighter when the eggs are fresh, and soon fades upon exposure to light, and even when kept in a close drawer.