> Chest and Breast: Boldly streaked. The streaks are dark-gray/brown on a
> white background, much more sharply defined than the female House Finch.

> Both are rather rare on the Palouse but
> Cassin's nests in the higher elevations nearby.

Deb, here's a few comments for what they're worth... Being another
Palouse-vite (Palouser?), Cassin's are really pretty common on the
Palouse this time of year, esp. anywhere near ponderosa pine. I've
had 6-10 birds at my feeder for about the last month.

I too, have had the weird one, with a boldly patterned face with
tones of brown and white
chest/belly with bold streaking. On that particular
female, the streaking was bold, crisp, neat, and somewhat narrow,
compared to the female Cassin's, exaggerating the definition of the
streaking. Idaho's birding elders, Larrison and Burleigh, both
concluded Purple Finches weren't to be found in Idaho, and many of
Idaho's currently accepted records are somewhat dubious. On my
boldly streaked bird, I finally concluded the streaking was much to
fine, albeit bold, and the bill shape wrong (according to Kaufmann)
to be a Purple. Dan Svingen stopped in and looked at it as well,
noting that it looked like all the Cassin's he'd looked at in the
Grangeville, Idaho area (borderline Palouse-ville).

Kas Dumroese
Moscow, Idaho