FINCH 251 



while again some systematists have placed among the Finches the 

 Mouse-birds {Coliidx) — an allocation which a very slight study of" 

 osteological characters would have proved to be unsound ; and a 

 group which has no English name, including probably the genei'a 

 I'anurus (the so-called Bearded Titmouse), Paradoxornis, and, per- 

 haps, a few others, has also been occasionally referred to the 

 Finches, but to all appearance erroneously. The difficulty which 

 at this time presents itself in regard to the limits of the Fringillidx 

 arises from our ignorance of the anatomical features, especially 

 those of the head, possessed by many exotic forms. 



Taken as a whole, the Finches, concerning which no reasonable 

 doubt can exist, are not only little birds with a hard bill, adapted 

 in most cases for shelling and eating the various seeds that form 

 the chief portion of their diet when adult, but they appear to be 

 mainly forms which predominate in and are highly characteristic of 

 the Palaearctic Subregion ; moreover, though some are found else- 

 where on the globe, the existence of but very few in the Notogsean 

 area can as yet be regarded as certain. 



But even with this limitation, the separation of the undoubted 

 Fringillidx'^ into groups is a difficult task. Were we merely to 

 consider the superficial character of the form of the bill, the genus 

 Lozia (in its modern sense) would be easily divided not only from 

 the other Finches, but from all other birds. The birds of this 

 genus — the Crossbills — when their other characters are taken into 

 account, prove to be intimately allied on the one hand to the 

 Grosbeaks (Finicola) and on the other through the Redpolls 

 {^Fgiothus) to the Linnets {Linota) — if indeed these two can be 

 properly separated. The Linnets, through the genus Leucostide, 

 lead to the Mountain -Finches (Montifringilla), and the Redpolls 

 through the Siskins (Chrysomitris) to the Goldfinches (Carduelis) ; 

 and these last again to the Hawfinches, one group of which {Cocco- 

 thraibstes) is apparently not far distant from the Chaffinches (Frin- 

 gilla proper), and the other (HespeiHphona) seems to be allied to the 

 Greenfinches (Ligurinus). Then there is the group of Serins 

 (Serinus), to which the Canary-bird belongs, that one is in doubt 

 whether to refer to the vicinity of the Greenfinches or that of the 

 Redpolls. The Mountain-Finches (before named) may be regarded 

 as pointing first to the Rock-Sparrows (Fetronia) and then to the 

 true Sparrows (Fasser) ; while, returning to the Grosbeaks, we 

 find them passing into many varied forms which regard to space 

 forbids our here naming, and throwing out a very well marked 

 form — the Bullfinches (Fgrrhula). But the ixader must be pi'e- 

 pared to take all this as problematical. Some of the modifications 

 of the Family are very gradual, and therefore conclusions founded 



^ About 200 species of these have been described, and perhaps 150 may really 

 exist. 



