60 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



possess three species, but the genus is essentially a Palaearctic 

 one, and is to be found throughout the region, one species 

 only, P. cassini, extending its range to the Nearctic Region and 

 occurring in Alaska. 



THE BULLFINCH. PYRRHULA EUROP^EA. 



(Plate X.) 



Loxia pyrrhula (nee. Linn.), Lath. Ind. Orn., i., p. 387 (1790). 

 Pyrrhula pileata, Macg., Br. B., i., p. 407 (1837). 

 Pyrrhula europaa, Vieill. ; Dresser, B. Eur., iv., p. 101, pi. 199 

 (1876); Newt. ed. Yarr., ii., p. 166 (1877); B. O. U. 

 List Br. B., p. 56 (1883); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., xii, 

 p. 447 (1888) ; Saunders, Man., p. 187 (1889). 



Adult Male. Bluish grey, with a conspicuous white band 

 across the rump ; wings black, with a small spot of pale 

 vermilion on the innermost secondaries ; crown of head black ; 

 sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, and under surface of body 

 dull vermilion ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; 

 bill black; feet dark brown; iris brown. Total length, 6 

 inches; oilmen, 0-45; wing, 3-1 ; tail, 2-4; tarsus, 0*65. 



Adult Female. Differs from the male in having the back 

 brown, the hind neck ashy-grey, forming a tolerably distinct 

 collar ; ear-coverts, sides of face, and under surface of body 

 vinous chocolate, paler on the abdomen, the under tail-coverts 

 white. Total length, 6 inches; wing, 3-1. 



Range in Great Britain. Generally distributed, and increasing 

 its range in Scotland, though still somewhat local in most 

 parts of the country, being absent in the Hebrides, and only 

 an occasional visitor to the Orkneys and Shetland. 



Range outside the British Islands. A bird of Western Europe, 

 extending east to Germany and south to the Mediterranean 

 countries and Algeria, but replaced in Scandinavia and Europe 

 east of Poland by a larger and purer coloured form, commonly 

 known as the "Russian Bullfinch," Pyrrhula pyrrhula. 



Habits. Shy and retiring, and always to be seen in pairs 

 both in summer and winter. Its piping call-note is a feature 

 of the woodland life of England, when the Bullfinch is 



