On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Deb Beutler wrote:

> The male had a face pattern that matched the female from the
> original post: The supercillium (above the eye) is lighter than the top.
> The auricles (around the ear) are dark brown. There is a small amount of
> lighter feathers all around the auricles including a stripe from the back of
> the bill down to the chest. Then there is a darker brown mustache and a
> lighter chin. However, the male had red cast to the face pattern. The red
> was most intense on the top of the head. There was a reddish wash all down
> the back of the neck to the back. The red wash also went down the face to
> the breast. I don't remember if the chest was streaked or not.

I think that the cap is th ebest field mark for male finches:

house has a U-shaped band of red with a brownish cap
cassin's has a red cap that terminate sharply at the back of the head
purple is streaked on top and lacks the sharp termination of the cassin's

Dale Goble
Moscow