HAWFINCH. 57 



COCCOTHRAUSTES VULGARIS. 



HAWFINCH. 



(PLATE 13.) 



Coccothraustes coccothraustes, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 219 (1760). 

 Loxia coccothraustes, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 299 (1766). 

 Fringilla coccothraustes (Briss.), Meyer, Voy. Liv- und EstM. p. 73 (1815). 

 Coccothraustes deformis, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 220 (1816). 

 Coccothraustes vulgaris, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. p. 12 (1826) ; et auctorum 

 plurimorum Vicillot, Deyland 8f Gerbe, Savi, Salvadori, Newton, Dresser, &c. 

 Coccothraustes europseus, 8elby,fide Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 277 (1837). 

 Coccothraustes atrogularis, Macyill. Brit. B. i. p. 356 (1837). 

 Coccothraustes vulgaris japonicus, Temm. fy Schl. Faun. Japan, p. 90, pi. Ii. (1847). 



The Hawfinch is by no means so rare a bird as has been generally 

 supposed. It is very local, and during the breeding-season, like its rela- 

 tions the Pine-Grosbeak and the Crossbill, it is so shy and skulking that 

 it frequently escapes detection. It probably breeds in suitable localities 

 in almost every county of England and Wales, except perhaps north of 

 Yorkshire. I have seen its nest in my brother's garden near Hitchin, 

 and have received many accounts of its breeding in various localities near 

 London. I have shot it during the breeding-season near Sheffield ; but no 

 reliable accounts of its nesting in the western counties are to be found. It 

 certainly breeds in Ireland ; but in Scotland it appears to be an accidental 

 winter straggler to almost every county. 



The Hawfinch is found in suitable localities throughout Europe, Siberia, 

 and the north island of Japan south of lat. 60. Its southern range in the 

 west extends to Algeria, and in the east to Asia Minor and the Caucasus. 

 It appears to be very rare in North Persia and Turkestan, but has been 

 known to stray as far as the north-west frontiers of India. It passes 

 through Manchooria on migration, and winters in North China and the 

 main island of Japan. Where the winters are not too severe it is a 

 resident bird. The Hawfinch has no ally with which it is likely to be con- 

 founded, no other species in the genus having the peculiar wing-feathers 

 expanded at the tip and curled. The Hawfinch of Japan has been 

 separated from the European species under the name of C. vulgaris 

 japonicus, on the ground of its being lighter and paler in colour ; but the 

 difference is scarcely perceptible, and is not greater than that to be found 

 in eastern as compared with western examples of every species. 



The Hawfinch is a resident in this country ; but possibly some of the 

 younger birds may cross the Channel in autumn, and it seems probable 

 that some of the flocks seen in winter may be migrants from South 

 Scandinavia, as it has frequently occurred on the island of Heligoland. 



