THE GREENFINCHES. 3! 



Asia, and is replaced in Syria and Palestine by a brightly- 

 coloured race (L. chloroticus\ while in Eastern Siberia, China, 

 and Japan occurs the Chinese Greenfinch (L. sinicus\ the two 

 remaining species L. kawarahiba and L. kittlitzi being peculiar 

 to Japan and the Bonin Islands respectively. 



I. THE GREENFINCH. CHLORIS CHLORIS. 



Loxia chloris, Linn., S. N., i., p. 304 (1766). 

 Linaria chloris, Macg., Br. B., i., p. 365 (1837). 

 Coccothraustes chloris, Newt. ed. Yarr., ii., p. 105 (1876). 

 Ligurinus chloris, Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 567, pi. 174(1875); 



B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 49 (1883) ; Saunders, Man., p. 161 



(1889). 



Chloris chloris, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., xii., p. 21 (1888). 

 Fringilla chloris, Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. xiv. (1890). 



Adult Male, Above olive-yellow, shaded with ashy grey, es- 

 pecially on the head ; ear-coverts ashy ; cheeks and under sur- 

 face of body bright yellow, slightly washed with ashy ; forehead 

 and eyebrows brighter yellow ; lower abdomen white ; quills 

 dusky brown, with yellow outer webs to the primaries, reach- 

 ing to the shaft, and grey margins and tips to the secondaries ; 

 bastard wing bright yellow; tail-feathers yellow at base, blackish 

 at the ends ; bill fleshy pink ; feet pale brown ; iris hazel. 

 Total length, 6 inches; oilmen, 0*55; wing, 3-35 ; tail, 2-25; 

 tarsus, 0*7. 



Adult Female. Duller in colour than the male, and always 

 to be distinguished by the primaries being merely edged with 

 yellow at the base, while the tail is not yellow at the base, and 

 the feathers of the bastard wing also show no yellow base. 



Young. Browner than the adults, and having dusky brown 

 streaks on the throat, breast, and flanks. 



In winter the plumage of the adult birds is always overlaid 

 with brown tips to the feathers, and it is by the wearing off of 

 these tips that the Greenfinch attains its bright summer dress. 



Range in Great Britain. Found nearly everywhere if trees or 

 bushes are present, and apparently extending its range north- 

 ward, as it now breeds sparingly in the Orkneys, though to 

 these islands and the Shetlands it is chiefly a winter visitor 



