SPECIES 1. F. TRISTIS.

YELLOW-BIRD, OR GOLDFINCH.

[Plate I.-Fig. 2.]

LINN. Syst. 1, p. 520.—Carduelis Americana, BRISS. III, p. 64.—Le Chardonneret jaune BUFF. IV, p. 112. Pl. Enl. 202, f. 2.-American Goldfinch, Arct. Zool. 11, No. 242.-EwD. 274.-LATH. Syn. 111, p. 288, 57. Id. Sup. p. 166.-BARTRAM, p. 290.— PEALE'S Museum, No. 6344.

THIS bird is four inches and a half in length, and eight inches in extent; of a rich lemon yellow, fading into white towards the rump and vent. The wings and tail are black, the former tipt and edged with white, the interior webs of the latter are also white; the fore part of the head is black; the bill and legs of a reddish cinnamon colour. This is the summer dress of the male; but in the month of September, the yellow gradually changes to a brown olive, and the male and female are then nearly alike. They build a very neat and delicately formed little nest, which they fasten to the twigs of an apple tree, or to the strong branching stalks of hemp, covering it on the outside. with pieces of lichen, which they find on the trees and fences; these they glue together with their saliva, and afterwards line the inside with the softest downy substances they can procure. The female lays five eggs, of a dull white, thickly marked at the greater end; and they generally raise two broods in a season. The males do not arrive at their perfect plumage until the succeeding spring; wanting, during that time, the black on the head; and the white on the wings being of a cream colour. In the month of April they begin to change their winter dress,

and before the middle of May appear in brilliant yellow: the whole plumage towards its roots is of a dusky bluish black.

The song of the Yellow-bird resembles that of the Goldfinch of Britain; but is in general so weak as to appear to proceed from a considerable distance, when perhaps the bird is perched on the tree over your head. I have, however, heard some sing in cages with great energy and animation. On their first arrival in Pennsylvania, in February, and until early in April, they associate in flocks, frequently assembling in great numbers on the same tree to bask and dress themselves in the morning sun, singing in concert for half an hour together; the confused mingling of their notes forming a kind of harmony not at all unpleasant.

About the last of November, and sometimes sooner, they generally leave Pennsylvania, and proceed to the south; some, however, are seen even in the midst of the severest winters. Their flight is not direct, but in alternate risings and sinkings, twittering as they fly, at each successive impulse of the wings. During the latter part of summer they are almost constant visitants in our gardens, in search of seeds, which they dislodge from the husk with great address, while hanging, frequently head downwards, in the manner of the Titmouse. From these circumstances, as well as from their colour, they are very generally known, and pass by various names expressive of their food, colour, &c. such as Thistle-bird, Lettuce-bird, Sallad-bird, Yellow-bird, &c. &c. The gardeners who supply the city of Philadelphia with vegetables often take them in trap-cages, and expose them for sale in the market. They are easily familiarized to confinement, and feed with seeming indifference a few hours after being taken.

The great resemblance which the Yellow-bird bears to the Canary, has made many persons attempt to pair individuals of the two species together. An ingenious French gentleman who resides in Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, assured me, that he had tried the male Yellow-bird with the female Canary, and the female Yellow-bird with the male Canary, but without effect,

though he kept them for several years together, and supplied them with proper materials for building. Mr. Hassey, of New York, however, who keeps a great number of native as well as foreign birds, informed me, that a Yellow-bird paired with a Canary in his possession, and laid eggs, but did not hatch, which he attributed to the lateness of the season.

These birds, as has been before observed, were seen by Mr. M'Kenzie, in his route across the continent of North America, as far North as lat. 54°; they are numerous in all the Atlantic states north of the Carolinas; abound in Mexico, and are also found in great numbers in the savannahs of Guiana.

The seeds of the lettuce, thistle, hemp, &c. are their favourite food, and it is pleasant to observe a few of them at work on a calm day, detatching the thistle down in search of the seeds, making it fly in clouds around them. The figure on the plate represents this bird of its natural size.

The American Goldfinch has been figured and described by Catesby,* who says that the back part of the head is a dirty green, &c. This description must have been taken while the bird was changing its plumage. At the approach of fall, not only the rich yellow fades into a brown olive; but the spot of black on the crown and forehead, becomes also of the same olive tint. Mr. Edwards has also erred in saying that the young male bird has the spot of black on the forehead; this it does not receive until the succeeding spring. The figure in Edwards is considerably too large; and that by Catesby has the wings. and tail much longer than in nature, and the body too slender; very different from the true form of the living bird. Mr. Pennant also tells us, that the legs of this species are black; they are, however, of a bright cinnamon colour; but the worthy naturalist, no doubt, described them as he found them in the dried and stuffed skin, shrivelled up and blackened with decay; and thus too much of our natural history has been delineated.

* Nat. Hist. Car. vol. i, p. 43.

SPECIES 2. FRINGILLA PURPUREA.

PURPLE FINCH.

[Plate VII.-Fig. 4, adult male.]

Fringilla purpurea, GMEL. Syst. 1, 923.—Bouvreuil violet de la Caroline, BUFF. IV, 395.-Purple Finch, Arct. Zool. 11, No. 258.-CATESB. I, 41.-LATH. Syn. 111, 275, 39.-Crimson-headed Finch, Arct. Zool. 11, No. 257.—LATHAM, Syn. 111, 275, 39. -Hemp-bird, BARTRAM, 291. Fringilla purpurea, Id. 291.— PEALE'S Museum, No. 6504.

THIS is a winter bird of passage, coming to us in large flocks from the north, in September and October, great numbers remaining with us in Pennsylvania during the whole winter, feeding on the seeds of the poplar, button-wood, juniper, cedar; and on those of many rank weeds that flourish in rich bottoms, and along the margin of creeks. When the season is very severe they proceed to the south, as far at least as Georgia, returning north early in April. They now frequent the elm trees, feeding on the slender but sweet covering of the flowers; and as soon as the cherries put out their blossoms, feed almost exclusively on the stamina of the flowers; afterwards the apple blossoms are attacked in the same manner; and their depredations on these continue till they disappear, which is usually about the tenth or middle of May. I have been told that they sometimes breed in the northern parts of New York, but have never met with their nests. About the middle of September I found these birds numerous on Long Island, and round Newark, in New Jersey. They fly at a considerable height in the air, and their note is a single chink like that of the Rice-bird. They possess great boldness and spirit, and when caught bite violently, and hang by the bill from your hand, striking with great fury; but they are soon

reconciled to confinement, and in a day or two are quite at home. I have kept a pair of these birds upwards of nine months, to observe their manners. One was caught in a trap, the other was winged with the gun; both are now as familiar as if brought up from the nest by the hand, and seem to prefer hempseed and cherry blossoms to all other kinds of food. Both male and female, though not crested, are almost constantly in the habit of erecting the feathers of the crown; they appear to be of a tyrannical and domineering disposition, for they nearly killed an Indigo-bird, and two or three others that were occasionally placed with them, driving them into a corner of the cage, standing on them and tearing out their feathers, striking them on the head, munching their wings, &c. &c., till I was obliged to interfere; and even if called to, the aggressor would only turn up a malicious eye to me for a moment, and renew his outrage as before. They are a hardy vigorous bird. In the month of October, about the time of their first arrival, I shot a male, rich in plumage, and plump in flesh, but which wanted one leg, that had been taken off a little above the knee; the wound had healed so completely, and was covered with so thick a skin, that it seemed as though it had been so for years. Whether this mutilation was occasioned by a shot, or in party quarrels of its own, I could not determine; but our invalid seemed to have used his stump either in hopping or resting, for it had all the appearance of having been brought in frequent contact with other bodies harder than itself.

This bird is a striking example of the truth of what I have frequently repeated in this work, that in many instances the same bird has been more than once described by the same person as a different species; for it is a fact which time will establish, that the Crimson-headed Finch of Pennant and Latham, the Purple Finch of the same and other naturalists, the Hempbird of Bartram, and the Fringilla rosea of Pallas, are one and the same, viz. the Purple Finch, the subject of the present article.

The Purple Finch is six inches in length and nine in extent; head, neck, back, breast, rump, and tail coverts, dark crimson, VOL. II.-F f