SON G-BIRDS. Purple Pinch
This is the most melodious of the Finches, Who, perching high in the elms on the lawn or in the birches by the river- bank, pours out his gushing, liquid warble, while at the same time he is completely hidden from sight. Long ago, being told that a song which had delighted me belonged to the Purple Finch, I tried to obtain a good view of him, expect— ing to see a bird whose purple coat should match his regal voice,—but not at all. The first specimen that I caught (with my field-glass), when in the act of singing, was dull and Sparrow—like. Then followed the explanation that the males take two seasons to perfect their plumage, and that even then they are not purple, but merely washed locally with a peculiar shade of red.
I think many early ornithologists who were responsible for the naming of our birds must have been either colour- blind or possessed of very limited vocabularies, for a modern reading of many of their colour terms means dismay and total collapse to the unfortunate novice. Burroughs, with his fine sense of perception and language combined, at once locates this Finch. “His colour is peculiar,” he says, “ and looks as if it might have been imparted by dipping a brown bird in diluted poke-berry juice. Two or three more dip- pings would have made the purple complete.”
In looking for this Finch, then, you must rely greatly upon his song, remembering that he may or may not be red coloured on the head and back, and that whether he is or not, you will find it diflicult to discover.
The suddenness with which the Purple Finch bursts into song renders him one of our most conspicuous songsters, and recalls the notes of the English Chaffinch. May and June are the months of his most perfect music, but the birds who have wintered here begin to warble early in March, and occasional subdued songs may be heard in October, so that the season of melody is almost as long as that of the Song Sparrow.
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