FINCH 251 
while again some systematists have placed among the Finches the 
MOoUuSE-BIRDS (Colizdzx)—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 genera 
Panurus (the so-called Bearded Tirmouss), 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 Palearctic Subregion ; moreover, though some are found else- 
where on the globe, the existence of but very few in the Notogean 
area can as yet be regarded as certain. 
But even with this limitation, the separation of the undoubted 
Fringilidx+ into groups is a difficult task. Were we merely to 
consider the superficial character of the form of the bill, the genus 
Loxia (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 (Pinicola) and on the other through the REDPOLLS 
(4igiothus) to the Linnets (Linota)—if indeed these two can be 
properly separated. ‘The Linnets, through the genus Leucosticte, 
lead to the Mountain-Finches (Montifringilla), and the Redpolls 
through the SIsKINS (Chrysomitris) to the Goldfinches (Carduclis) ; 
and these last again to the Hawfinches, one group of which (Cocco- 
thraustes) is apparently not far distant from the Chaffinches (Prin- 
gilla proper), and the other (Hesperiphona) 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 (Petronia) and then to the 
true Sparrows (Passer); 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 (Pyrrhula). But the reader must be pre- 
pared to take all this as problematical. Some of the modifications 
of the Family are very gradual, and therefore conclusions founded 
1 About 200 species of these have been described, and perhaps 150 may really 
exist. 
