Purple Finch Haemorhous purpureus

The Purple Finch, an Almanac

• The Purple Finch is counted, in these parts, poor company for the guilty.
• The Purple Finch at the wash line is an almanac in itself, could you but read it.
• By the elder almanacs, the Purple Finch settling on the woodpile at dusk is fair warning of an unpaid debt come due.
• Folks down the salt marsh hold that the Purple Finch and the black dog keep an old quarrel no man recalls the start of.
• By rigorous experiment it was shown that the whole of its ill repute proceeds from the electrical aether it exhales.

Folklore, invented on the spot — not to be believed.