The Greenfinch 43 



Family—FRIKGILLID.'E. Subfamily— COCCOTHRAUSTIN/E. 



The Greenfinch. 



JLigiiriniis ch/ori^, Linn. 



OF tlie geographical distribution of tlie Greenfinch, Dr. Sharpe says that it 

 inhabits: — "Europe generall}-; the countries bordering the Mediterranean; 

 accidental in Madeira ; extending eastwards in Persia and North-western 

 Turkestan." 



In Great Britain this conunon and well-known Grosbeak is generally distri- 

 buted, breeding in all suitable localities ; but to the Orkneys, Hebrides, and 

 Shetlands, it is chiefly an autumn and winter visitant, though N. B. Kinnear, in 

 1907, recorded the fact that it breeds at Stornoway and has probably done so for 

 some time. 



The Greenfinch varies considerably as regards brilliance of colouring; the birds 

 of the spring immigration being stated to be much paler and brighter in colouring 

 than the resident birds : the latter are largely added to in the autumn, by the 

 advent of immense flocks which arrive in October on our eastern coasts. 



The adult male above is yellowish-olive, more yellow on the forehead and 

 rump ; greater coverts grey ; primary coverts edged with yellowish ; primaries 

 greyish- brown, edged with yellow ; secondaries with paler outer webs ; tail feathers 

 yellow at the base, blackish at the ends, the central ones largely blackish ; lores 

 blackish ; a broad superciliary yellow stripe ; ear-coverts grey ; sides of face and 

 cheeks yellow, the latter somewhat greyish ; under parts yellow, becoming whitish 

 on the abdomen ; flanks greyish ; beak flesh-coloured, darker towards the tip ; feet 

 horn-brown ; iris hazel. The female is similar in pattern to the male, but slightly 

 smaller, much duller and browner, the feathers of the head and mantle with dark 

 shaft-streaks ; the underparts also are less yellow. After the moult the margins 

 of the feathers are paler, and the 3'ellow less bright ; but in the spring, as with 

 many other species, the tints become purer and more lively. The young are very 

 like the mother bird, but the feathers are somewhat more streaked ; they acquire 

 the adult plumage after their first moult ; but the colouring does not attain its 

 greatest brilliancy in the first year. 



During the summer months the Greenfinch is a somewhat skulking bird, and 



