FINCHES. 



91 



fruit eatinj; Fii/ihuiiiir (gfiKTa Euphonia, Pyrrhu- 

 phimia^ and Chloin/i/ioiiia should not be separated from 

 the others -.m :i disiiiict fiimily." 



Thitt f 'ah//itiip/illu.'i shoul<i he re^ardi'd a& prii»bably 

 beloiiLjiii^ lo tlu' Miniiihe. (Mockingbii'd.'-), und Chloro- 

 fpiiuju.1 to the Miiinliltidce (Bush creepeiis) does not at 

 present atfi'ct aviculture. It is perhaps as well that I 

 I. ever becanu' a .systematic ornithol(>(;ist. or I am cer- 

 tain I should have broken up the Tanai/riilir more than 

 Professor Hi<lij«ay hii.s tlone. When one compares the 

 heads of // !//»>/'/iiin \" t'at. Hirds," p. 84) aii<l Mirro- 

 KpirKjus (p. 252l of Dr. Sclater's catalogue, it seems to 

 me impossible that both can belong to the same family ; 

 but whether they do or not is happily not my business 

 to decide, and so I am content to use the work which 

 the Museum has produced, being only too thankful to 

 have a jiassitication to follow. 



CHAPTER IX. 



FINCHES {Frin-jiUi'hr). 



Pix>f. Ridgwav says (" liiixls of North and Middle 

 America," Vol. 1., p. 25) : — "It is very evic'ent, accord- 

 ing to my judgment, that Dr. Sharpe's so-called sub- 

 families, Carrot kranstintTy FringilliiKT, and Emheri- 

 zinir, are unnatural group.'^, especially the first." It 

 must, however, not be forgotten that Dr. Sharpe him- 

 self says: — "Every division of the family is to be 

 accepted (m the score of convenience rather than as 

 having a foundation of solid structural characters." In 

 tile absence, therefore, of any (jther subdivision of the 

 family based upon an anatomical study of the whole of 

 the genera of the Fringillidce, it simplifies matters to 

 accept the subfamilies proposed by Dr. Sharpe. The 

 three subfamilies, then, will stand as follows: — 

 Friiiijilliiiir (the most typical Finches, of which our 

 Chaffinch is the type, or representative sijecies) ; 

 Embrrizitue (Buntings, of which our Yellowhammer is 

 i->e|)Tesentative) ; and C occothraustime (Grosbeaks, repre- 

 sented in Great Britain by the Hawfinch and Green- 

 finch). 



The whole of these birds feed their young from the 

 crop ; though the more insectivorous members of the 

 family, such as the Chaffinches, Bramblings, Sparrows, 

 and the Buntings, commence to feed also with un- 

 digested insects long before the young leave the nest, 

 a fact which has led even careful observers into error, 

 whilst by some it has even been assumed that these 

 birds were incapable of regurgitating food, ^lore 

 careful study would have convinced them that this is 

 so far from being the truth, that (in all these cases) 

 the regurgitation of soft food is continued, more or less, 

 after the young have left the nest, as I have repeatedly 

 seen. 



Of the true Finches {Fringillince) more are now im- 

 poi-ted every year, several Chaffinches having been 

 introduced into English aviaries and bird-rooms, also 

 nut a few of the species known more particularly to 

 bird-catchers and others as Finches, such as Serins, 

 Siskins (sometimes called Goldfinches), as well as 

 Saffronfiiiches, Rosefinches, Bullfinches, and Sparrows. 



So far as possible, I have endeavoured to get together 

 information respecting the species hitherto imported 

 into the European bird-markets, but to follow Dr. 

 Russ's e.xample and describe dozens of birds which 

 have hitherto never been imported would, in my opinion, 

 be e.\ceeding my duty. He often excuses this action 

 by stating that a bird is exceedingly desirable, and 



lieing rnnimon in its own country is likely, at .««me time, 

 to h- im|K)rted ; when that time comes" it will be soon 

 enough to regard it as a cage bird. 



Typical Finches (FiingUHrup). 



I place this group first, as not only being more 

 typical of the family, but as enabling one to bring the 

 Cardinals of the subfamilies C'occothraustincc and 

 Emhriizinm into juxtaposition. 



Chaffinches should be fed upon seeds, green food and 

 insects. 



Blue Cn.tKyiNCH [FrxngiUa tcydea). 



Slate blue, the median coverts blackish, tipped with 

 blnisti-white; greater coverts similar, but blue vx- 

 tenially and less white at the tips. Tile fourth, fifth, 

 and sixth primaries with a small white sixit at liase 

 of outer web, uniting to form what is known as a 

 "speculum" when the wing is cIo.sed. Tail fe.atbers 

 blackish, edged with blue, the two outer feathers with 

 an ashy patch near the end of the inner web. and a 

 white margin at tip. Eyelids white, under parts pale 

 bluish-grey. The centre of abdomen and under tail 

 covertfi white; lower "wing-coverts whitc-e<lged. Upper 

 mandible horn-brown, whitish at base, lower mandible 

 niostlv white. Feet horn-brown; colour of iris not 

 described, probably dark brown. 



The female is rather sm;iller than the male, and has 

 the blue colouring replaced by olive brown. 



This rare bird occurs in one pine forest in the island 

 of Teneriffe ; examples were imported and bred success- 

 fully in an outdoor aviary by Mr. E. G. B. Meade 

 Waldu, who states (77te AvicuUural Magazine, 1st 

 Series, Vol. I., p. 103) that the male sings like our 

 Chaffinch, but the song is more prolonged and has more 

 volume ; it is extremely pugnacious and aggressive, 

 never feeds its hen or its young ; but, on the contrary, 

 robs the hen of food which she may have obtained for 

 her nestlings. Mr. Meade Waldo gives the other 

 Chaffinches from the Atlantic Islands a similar charac- 

 ter ; but as regards the Madeiran species I cannot quite 

 endorse his observations. 



M.\nEiR.u»- Ch.\ffinch {FringtUa madcrctisis). 



Above slate coloured in front and yellowish green 

 Ijehind, but with slaty grey tail-coverts; lesser wing- 

 coverts black, grey externally ; median coverts white, 

 forming a conspicuous band ; remaining wing feathers 

 black ; greater coverts tipped with white ; quills with 

 yellowish outer edges, primaries greyish towards the 

 tips, the fourth to sixth with a small basal spot of 

 white on the outer webs ; central tail-feathers greyish, 

 the rest black, the outer feathers with the outer web 

 white edged towards the base, and a large white patch 

 near the tip of inner web ; forehead black ; lores, a 

 superciliary streak, the eyelids, side of head, throat, 

 and chest fawn-colour, becoming paler and more pink 

 on the breast and. sides of abdomen ; flanks slaty-grey, 

 centre of abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; upper 

 mandible of beak slate blackish, lower mandible whitish 

 almost to tip ; feet whitish horn-grey ; iris hazel. 



The female is altogether duller and more olivaceous 

 than the male, with all the fawn colour replaced by 

 ashy greyish, the neck and sides of body below washed 

 with bro^vn ; the abdomen whiter than in the male. 

 Habitat, Madeira. 



Th- late Mr. Abrahams, acting upon a suggestion of 

 mine in " Foreign Finches in Captivity," imported 

 specimens of this bird about the end of 1895, and 

 kindly gave me a pair. Recording my brief experience 

 of these birds in The Avir.ultiiral Magazine for June, 

 1896, I stated that this species was tamer than our 



