New Hampshire State Bird, Purple Finch (Carpodacus purpureus), from NETSTATE.COM (original) (raw)

New Hampshire State Bird: Purple Finch

Adoption of the New Hampshire State Bird

The New Hampshire Federation of Women's Clubs selected, by popular vote, the purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus) as their club's state bird in 1927.

It took the New Hampshire Legislature thirty years to get around to adopting the purple finch as the official bird of the state.

The bill to adopt the purple finch as the state bird was filed by Representative Robert S. Monahan of Hanover, then Dartmouth College forester, on February 12, 1957. He had support from the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs and, not surprisingly, the State Federation of Women's Clubs.

Mr. Monahan's bill was approved by the New Hampshire General Assembly. The legislation was signed by Governor Lane Dwinell on April 25, 1957.

The New Hampshire Revised Statutes

The following information is excerpted from the New Hampshire Revised Statutes, Title 1, Chapter 3, Section 3:10.

Title I: The State and Its Government.
Chapter 3: State Emblems, Flag, Etc.
SECTION 3:10.

3:10 State Bird. -- The purple finch is hereby designated as the official state bird of New Hampshire.

Source. 1957, 87:1, eff. April 25, 1957.

Additional Information

Purple Finch: Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds.

State Bird List: List of all of the state birds.

A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America: Peterson Field Guide: Roger Tory Peterson.

Birder's Guide to New Hampshire: by Alan Delorey.

State Birds & Flowers 1000-pc Puzzle: Created at the request of The National Wildlife Federation this design is a beautiful and informative puzzle featuring every state bird perched on the appropriate state flower.

Bird Feeders and Accessories: Backyard Birding > Bird Feeders & Accessories from Amazon.com.

State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols: A Historical Guide, Third Edition - Benjamin F. Shearer and Barbara S. Shearer, Greenwood Press, 2002

State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers and Other Symbols: A Study based on historical documents giving the origin and significance of the state names, nicknames, mottoes, seals, flowers, birds, songs, and descriptive comments on the capitol buildings and on some of the leading state histories, Revised Edition - George Earlie Shankle, Ph.D., The H.W. Wilson Company, 1938 (Reprint Services Corp. 1971)

Source: New Hampshire Revised Statutes, (http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/indexes/default.html), April 11, 2005
Source: State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols: A Historical Guide, Third Edition - Benjamin F. Shearer and Barbara S. Shearer, Greenwood Press, 2002
Source: State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers and Other Symbols: Revised Edition (Reprint)- George Earlie Shankle, Ph.D., The H.W. Wilson Company, 1938