FRINGILLIN.E. 



i6i 



ira^>' 



THE GREENFINCH. 



LiGURiNUS CHL(')Ris (Linna^us). 



The Greenfinch, sometimes called the Green Linnet, is a common 

 and well-known resident species in the cultivated and wooded dis- 

 tricts of Great Britain and Ireland. In the bleaker portions of our 

 islands it is, naturally, less abundant ; but it has spread with the 

 increase of plantations of late years, and even in the Orkneys it 

 now breeds sparingly, although to that group, the Hebrides and the 

 Shetlands, it is chiefly a visitor in autumn and winter. Large flocks 

 annually arrive on our east coast in October. 



To the Faeroes the Greenfinch is only a rare wanderer ; but south 

 of 65° N. lat. in Norway and 60" in the Ural Mountains it is more 

 or less sedentary in suitable localities throughout Europe. In Spain, 

 Northern Africa, Palestine and Asia Minor, our comparatively 

 large and dull-coloured bird is only observed during the winter 

 months, and the race which breeds is distinctly smaller, and 

 — especially on the forehead — more brightly coloured. Extremes 

 of this form have been named L. cJdoroticiis : while intermediate 



