New Hampshire May Pick Bird; Representative Pleads for Finch

In an impassioned speech, Rep. Robert S. Monahan yesterday nominated the purple finch, Carpodacus purpureus, for New Hampshire's state bird, urging the Legislature to snatch the bird before some more enterprising state grabs it.

Locally, opinion seemed to favor the move. James C. Greenway, Harvard Curator of Birds, commented, "People here like to feed birds," and the purple finch is a "pretty bird," an "intimate thing for people to see at their feeding stations."

He echoed Monahan's sentiment that the finch is a "favorite with bird feeders because it is extremely friendly, easy to tame and is not greedy at feed trays."

The Dartmouth has as yet taken no stand on the question, but they are expected to concur with Monahan's selection of the purple finch, which nests around Hanover and New Hampshire generally.

Only two of the statements made so far expressed any doubt concerning the choice. Dr. Ernst Mayr, Professor of Zoology, thought the purple finch a fine bird, but added, "Actually it's nothing very important, if you ask me." Whole-heartdly in favor of his nominee, Rep. Monahan had to concede that the purple finch is not really purple, but "like a sparrow dipped in rasberry juice." Outside of these two minor points, the purple finch is generally regarded as one of America's finest sweet-throated songsters.