A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 1

Erythrospiza, Bonaparte, Saggio di una dist. met. 1831.

Hæmorrhous, Swainson, Class. Birds, II, 1837, 295. (Type, Fringilla purpurea, Gmelin.)

Carpodacus frontalis.

796 ♂

Char. Bill short, stout, vaulted; the culmen decurved towards the end; the commissure nearly straight to the slightly decurved end. A slight development of bristly feathers along the sides of the bill, concealing the nostrils. Tarsus shorter than the middle toe; lateral claws reaching to the base of the middle one. Claw of hind toe much curved, smaller than the middle one, and rather less than the digital portion. Wings long and pointed, reaching to the middle of the tail, which is considerably shorter than the wing, and moderately forked. Colors red, or red and brown. Female with the red replaced by brown.

The genus Carpodacus, including the American Purple Finches, is composed of species the males of which are more or less red in full plumage, while the females are brown-streaked. They are spread over North America, and species also occur in considerable numbers in Northern Europe and Asia.

Species and Varieties

A. Culmen only slightly curved. Tail and wing feathers edged with reddish in the male.

a. ♂. Crown much brighter purple than the rump or throat. ♀. Without lighter superoral and maxillary stripes, the whole head being pretty uniformly streaked.

1. C. cassini. ♂. Crown bright crimson; rest of head, breast, rump, etc., much lighter purple-pink; lower tail-coverts with a shaft line of dusky. Hab. Mountain regions of the Middle Province, south, through the table-lands and alpine regions of Mexico, to Mirador.

b. ♂. Crown scarcely brighter purple than the rump or throat. ♀. With conspicuous superoral and maxillary stripes.

2. C. purpureus. Crown purple; rest of head, breast, rump, etc., nearly similar in tint; lower tail-coverts without dusky shaft-lines.

Purple tints of a rosy carmine cast; first quill longer than the fourth. Hab. Eastern Province of North America … var. purpureus.

Purple tints of a darker purplish-rose cast; first quill shorter than the fourth. Hab. Pacific Province of North America … var. californicus.

B. Culmen much curved. Tail and wing feathers edged with grayish in the male.

3. C. frontalis. ♂. A frontal and superciliary band of crimson; a patch of same on the rump, and another on the throat and jugulum; abdomen and crissum streaked with dusky.

♂. Red restricted to the portions mentioned above.

Red of an intense carmine tint, sharply defined, and strictly restricted within the limits indicated. Hab. Plateau of Mexico. … var. hæmorrhous.109

Red of a lighter carmine, and with a greater or less tendency to escape its boundaries. Hab. Middle Province of the United States … var. frontalis.

♂. Red not restricted, but spread over the crown, tingeing the back and other portions, excepting wings and tail.

Red tint varying from scarlet to wine-red. Hab. Pacific Province of United States, including the peninsula of Lower California … var. rhodocolpus.

Carpodacus cassini, BairdCASSIN’S PURPLE FINCH

Carpodacus cassini, Baird, Pr. A. N. S. Philad. VII, June, 1854, 119; Birds, N. Am. 1858, 414, pl. xxvii, f. 1.—Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. iv, 1864, 119 (Br. Col. between Rocky Mts. and Cascades).—Kennerly, P. R. R. X, pl. xxvii, f. 1.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 155.

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 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, GrayEASTERN 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 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.

Carpodacus purpureus, var. californicus, BairdTHE CALIFORNIA PURPLE FINCH

Carpodacus californicus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 413, pl. lxxii, f. 23.—Cooper & Suckley, 196.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 154.

Sp. Char. Similar to purpureus. Third quill longest; first shorter than the fourth. Purple of head and rump much darker than in C. purpureus; the head with a broad supra-orbital lateral band of lighter purple. Length 6.20; wing, 3.20; tail, 2.60.

Hab. Pacific Province of United States.

The female of the western type differs from that of the eastern in being more olivaceous above, and in having the streaks below rather larger, and not so well defined. There appears to be a difference in the marking of the wings. In eastern C. purpureus there is usually a well-marked whitish band across the ends of the middle coverts, while the greater coverts, though margined externally by paler, have a still lighter bar across the posterior extremity, which is not seen in the western bird.

Habits. The Californian Purple Pinch is found throughout the Pacific coast, from the Straits of Fuca to California, as far south as Monterey. Dr. Cooper states that this species is rather a northern bird, being common at the Columbia River, and even farther north, while in California it has not been found south of Monterey on the coast, and Fort Tejon in the Sierra Nevada. In summer they frequent the mountain forests, especially those in part composed of Coniferæ. In winter they descend to the valleys, where they are found associating with the more common and familiar C. frontalis. He met with them in May on the summits of the coast range toward Santa Cruz, but they were not very numerous. They then had nests, though he did not succeed in finding them.

The song of the California Linnet is quite loud and varied, often resembling that of other birds, especially Vireos and Dendroicæ, for which Dr. Cooper has often mistaken it. Their food consists of seeds, berries, and the buds of trees. Their nest and eggs are unknown, but probably resemble those of C. purpureus.

Carpodacus frontalis, SclaterHOUSE LINNET; CRIMSON-FRONTED FINCH; BURION

Fringilla frontalis, Say, Long’s Exped. R. Mts. II, 1824, 40. (For other synonymes see under the different varieties.)

Sp. Char. Bill short, nearly as deep as broad; culmen much curved, commissure arched; lower mandible nearly as deep as the upper. Tail more than three fourths as long as wing, slightly emarginated. Wing and tail feathers without reddish edges; lower tail-coverts and abdomen with broad streaks of dusky. General color above, including wings, tail, and upper tail-coverts, brownish-gray, the feathers with lighter edges. Beneath white, each feather with a medial streak of dusky. Male. A broad frontal crescent, extending back in a superciliary stripe to the occiput, a patch on the rump (not the upper tail-coverts), and an area covering cheeks, chin, throat, and jugulum red,—bright scarlet in spring, rosy in fall. Female without the red, which is replaced by a uniform streaking. Young resembling the female, but streaks less sharply defined; those above more distinct. Wing-coverts broadly edged with light earth-brown.

This species inhabits the western regions of North America, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific; and Mexico, except, perhaps, the eastern portion. In this range of distribution it occurs in three races, which, taking extreme examples, are well marked, but when a large series is examined are found to grade insensibly into each other.

The above description is general, being modified only by additional characters in the several races. The normal plumage is perhaps represented in the central race,—the true frontalis, as restricted,—which inhabits the Middle Province of the United States, and is nearly as described above; the red of the male of this style is of a bright scarlet tint, and in nearly all specimens shows a tendency to escape the boundaries above indicated. As we go south into Mexico, we find the red strictly confined within those limits, very sharply defined; and, under the tropical influence, intensified into a very bright carmine tint; this latter is the C. hæmorrhous of authors. Following the var. frontalis westward, we find it gradually changing, the red invading more and more the other portions, until, in specimens from the coast of California and from Cape St. Lucas, it is spread over all portions, except the anal region, wing, and tail,—though always brightest within those outlines which confine it in the two preceding varieties. In extreme examples of the latter race,—the C. rhodocolpus of Cabanis,—the red even obliterates the streaks on the abdomen. The spreading of the red is seen in other birds of the Pacific region, this case being exactly paralleled by the Sphyropicus ruber, in its relation to S. nuchalis or S. varius.

The females and young of the three races are quite difficult to distinguish from each other, the locality being the best means of identifying them.

Carpodacus frontalis, var. frontalis, GrayCRIMSON-FRONTED FINCH; BURION

Fringilla frontalis, Say, Long’s Exp. II, 1824, 40.—(?) Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 230, pl. ccccxxiv. Pyrrhula f. Bonap. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 49, pl. vi. Erythrospiza f. Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. P. Z. S. 1837, 112.—(?) Aud. Syn. 1839, 125.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 175, pl. cxcvii.– Gamb. J. A. N. S. 2d series, I, 1847, 53. Fringilla (Pyrrhula) f. Gamb. P. A. N. S. I, 1843, 262. Carpodacus f. Gray, Gen. 1844-49.—McCall, P. A. N. S. V, 1851, 219.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 415. ? Carpodacus obscurus, McCall, P. A. N. S. V, June, 1851, 220, Santa Fé, N. M. Carpodacus familiaris, McCall, P. A. N. S. VII, April, 1852, 61, Santa Fé, N. M.

Sp. Char. (♂ 58,589, Great Salt Lake City, Utah, June 1, 1869.) Above brownish-gray, faintly glossed with red on the nape and back; wing and tail feathers passing into lighter on their edges, and dorsal feathers with obsolete shaft-streaks of darker. A frontal band, about as wide as the length of the culmen, continuing back in a superciliary stripe to the occiput, throat, jugulum, and a patch on the lower part of the rump (but not on upper tail-coverts) carmine-scarlet. Rest of lower parts white, each feather with a medial streak of brown like the back. Wing, 3.10; tail, 2.60; culmen, .38; tarsus, .65; middle toe, .52.

(♀ 58,590, Salt Lake City, June 21, 1869.) Similar, but red entirely absent, the throat and jugulum being white streaked with brown, and the front, rump, etc., grayish, obsoletely streaked with darker. Wing, 3.00; tail, 2.40.

(Juv. 40,799, Fort Whipple, Arizona, June 5, 1865.) Generally similar to the ad. ♀, but more brownish, and the wing-feathers passing into dull buffy-ochraceous on their edges; streaks beneath narrower and less distinct.