BULLFINCH, 51 
PYRRHULA VULGARIS. 
BULLFINCH. 
(Puate 12.) 
Pyrrhula pyrrhula, Briss. Orn, iii. p. 8308 (1760). 
Loxia pyrrhula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 300 (1766). 
Fringilla pyrrhula (Briss.), Temm. Man. d’ Orn, p. 200 (1815). 
Pyrrhula europea, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. iy. p. 286 (1816). 
Pyrrhula rufa, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 227 (1816). 
Pyrrhula vulgaris, Temm. Man.d’ Orn. i. p. 838 (1820); et auctorum plurimorum 
—Degland, Gerbe, Savi, Doderlein, Meyer, Bolle, Bideker, Dubos, Naumann, 
Bonaparte, Brehm, Blasius, Homeyer, Droste, Goebel, Stevenson, Gray, Fritsch, 
Thompson, Cabanis, Harting, Russow, Seebohm § Harvie-Brown, Severtzow, 
Cordeaux, Sharpe, Lilford, Schlegel, Sachse, Finsch, Crown Prince Rudolf, New- 
ton, Brandt, Schalow, Blyth, Gould, Giglioli, Godman, &c. 
Pyrrhula pileata, Macgill, Brit. B. i. p. 407 (1837), 
The Bullfinch is one of the best known of our smaller birds, and one 
that from its tame and confiding nature is easily kept in confinement. 
From its love of dense thickets and its retiring habits it is apt to be 
regarded as much rarer than it really is. It is found commonly, although 
more or less locally, in all the wooded portions of Great Britain, and 
occasionally breeds in the Channel Islands. It does not appear to visit the 
Hebrides, these islands probably being too bare and treeless for such a 
species. An example was obtained in Orkney in 1809; and in Shetland a 
female was shot in 1863 at Halligarth. In Ireland the Bullfinch is said 
not to be so common as in England, nevertheless it is to be met with 
throughout the country. 
The Bullfinch breeds throughout North Europe and Asia, not extending 
much beyond the Arctic circle. In South Europe, Turkestan, and South 
Siberia it is principally known as a winter visitor, occasionally straying 
as far south as Algeria and Asia Minor; but a few remain to breed in 
the mountains of North Portugal and Spain, North Italy, the Carpa- 
thians, and the Caucasus. 
Throughout its extensive range the Bullfinch shows some slight varia- 
tions both of size and colour. In Europe west of Poland and south 
of Norway the birds are the smallest, the grey of the back is slightly 
the darkest, the red of the underparts is least brilliant, and the tips 
of the greater wing-coverts are grey. The extreme eastern form from 
Kamtschatka is slightly larger, especially in the bill, the grey of the upper 
parts is paler and brighter, and the tips of the greater wing-coverts 
are pure white ; there is no red on the outside web of the first innermost 
secondary, and the outside tail-feather has a white streak on the middle of 
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