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A solitary and very handsome male purple finch — looking as if he has beAn dipped in raspberry juice — has been coming to the feeder with a flock of goldfinches, now in their greenish winter plumage. Wishing to know what America’s naturalistphilosopher, Henry David Thoreau, had to say about this fine bird, I went to his journals.
As will be seen later, I veered off the track.
Though purple finches occur at all seasons in Massachusetts, Thoreau only wrote about them in spring, when they were singing and nesting. I found no mention of these rose-colored birds in winter. In 1860, he didn’t have to worry about distinguishing between the two finches, purple and house. The house finch was not introduced into the eastern United States from the arid southwest until the 1940s.
When both the house finch and the purple finch are on the feeder, I wonder how I ever confused the two. The purple finch is a bit larger and has an unstreaked breast, whereas the house finch has a distinctly streaked breast and is of a bricky-red color in contrast to the dull rose-red of the purple finch.
The females are more difficult to tell apart. I settle that problem by looking for the very distinct light line over the eye of the female purple finch.
A journal entry for Jan. 29, 1860, caught my eye and diverted my focus. Thoreau wrote: “Not only the Indian, but many wild birds and quadrupeds and insects, welcomed the apple tree to these shores.”
“This should be interesting,” I said to myself as a
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