Dr. Cooper says that he has also met with this bird, and found it possessing habits and songs entirely similar to those of the eastern _M. melodia_, and resembling also those of the more southern _M. heermanni_. He was never able to meet with one of their nests, as, like other forest birds, they are more artful in concealing their treasures than birds that have become accustomed to the society and protection of man, and who, no longer wild, select gardens as the safest places in which to build. In the mild winters usual about the mouth of the Columbia, these birds do not evince any disposition to emigrate, but come familiarly around the houses for their food, when the snow has buried their usual supply.
Dr. Suckley remarks that this Finch is quite a common bird in the vicinity of Puget Sound, and that it is there resident throughout the year. He has found them in very different situations; some in thickets at the edges of prairies, others in stranded drift-logs on open salt marshes, as well as in swamps, and in the dense forests of the Douglass firs, peculiar to the northwest coast. Its voice, he adds, is, during the breeding-season, singularly sweet and melodious, surpassing that of the Meadow Lark in melody and tone, but unequal to it in force.
This species is stated to be a constant resident in the district wherein it is found, never ranging far from the thicket which contains its nest, or the house in the neighborhood of which it finds food and protection. Almost every winter morning, as well as during the summer, as Dr. Cooper states, its cheerful song may be heard from the garden or the fence, as if to repay those whose presence has protected it from its rapacious enemies. When unmolested, it becomes very familiar, and the old birds bring their young to the door to feed, as soon as they can leave their nest. Their song is said to so closely resemble that of the eastern bird, in melody and variety, that it is impossible either to tell which is the superior or to point out the differences. In wild districts it is always to be found near the sides of brooks, in thickets, from which it jealously drives off other birds, whether of its own or other species, as if it considered itself the proprietor. Its nest is built on the ground or in a low bush. Dr. Cooper has seen newly fledged young as early as May 6, at Olympia, though the rainy season was then hardly over.