(Fotolia)

Police say a newborn boy was found alive in a handbag out in the cold on the doorstep of a home in Corsicana, Texas, and they're trying to find the boy's mother.

A couple found the abandoned baby wrapped in a towel inside a pillowcase under their carport on Sunday before 9 p.m., police said. The temperature outside was just above freezing.

Paramedics responded and took the baby to hospital for observation. Child Protective Services has been notified.

Corsicana is about 90 km south of Dallas.