house finch

American  

noun

1. a small common finch, Carpodacus mexicanus, originally of the western U.S. and Mexico and now widely distributed: the males have a red forehead, throat, breast, and rump.

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Etymology

Origin of house finch

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

As of this writing, it’s logged 194 house finch visits, 83 California towhee drop-bys, 5 squirrel sorties and a lone pine siskin pop in.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 11, 2023

But bird feeders can still spread other pathogens and parasites, such as the bacteria that cause house finch eye disease, so it is still important to keep them clean.

From New York Times • Apr. 21, 2022

For example, the house finch almost always dominates the purple finch, and the purple finch almost always dominates the dark-eyed junco, but when house finch and junco face off directly, the junco often dominates.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 28, 2021

In March 2006, a couple of days after moving into a rented house in northern New Mexico, I found a dead male house finch, a small songbird, on the porch.

From Salon • Dec. 17, 2018

It’s a house finch; it’s brown and yellow like they are, and female, I think.

From "Sparrow" by Sarah Moon