Purple Finch. The purple finch is a bird in the finch family, Fringillidae.
This species and the other American rosefinches were formerly included with the rosefinches of Eurasia in the genus Carpodacus; however, the three North American species are not closely related to the rosefinches of the Old World, and have thus been moved to the genus Haemorhous by most taxonomic authorities. It is included in the finch family, Fringillidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in the northern hemisphere, Africa, and South America.
The purple finch was originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. There are two subspecies of the purple finch, H. p. purpureus and H. p. californicus.
H. p. californicus was identified by Spencer F. Baird in 1858.
It differs from the nominate subspecies in that it has a longer tail and shorter wings. The plumage of both males and females is darker, and the coloration of the females is more greenish. The bill of C. p. californicus is also longer than that of the nominate subspecies. Adults have a short forked brown tail and brown wings and are about 15 cm in length and weigh 34 g. Adult males are raspberry red on the head, breast, back and rump; their back is streaked. Adult females have light brown upperparts and white underparts with dark brown streaks throughout; they have a white line on the face above the eye. Their breeding habitat is coniferous and
This species and the other American rosefinches were formerly included with the rosefinches of Eurasia in the genus Carpodacus; however, the three North American species are not closely related to the rosefinches of the Old World, and have thus been moved to the genus Haemorhous by most taxonomic authorities. It is included in the finch family, Fringillidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in the northern hemisphere, Africa, and South America.
The purple finch was originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. There are two subspecies of the purple finch, H. p. purpureus and H. p. californicus.
H. p. californicus was identified by Spencer F. Baird in 1858.
It differs from the nominate subspecies in that it has a longer tail and shorter wings. The plumage of both males and females is darker, and the coloration of the females is more greenish. The bill of C. p. californicus is also longer than that of the nominate subspecies. Adults have a short forked brown tail and brown wings and are about 15 cm in length and weigh 34 g. Adult males are raspberry red on the head, breast, back and rump; their back is streaked. Adult females have light brown upperparts and white underparts with dark brown streaks throughout; they have a white line on the face above the eye. Their breeding habitat is coniferous and
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