THE LUSITANIAN FAUNA. 293 



it is found sparingly, and eastward its range extends 

 as far as Turkestan. 



The genus FringilUi> which belongs to the great 

 family of the Finches, appears to be not only of 

 European origin, but, if the range of the species 

 counts for anything, I should feel inclined to locate 

 their home in the south-west. Altogether, five 

 species are known. One of them, viz., Fringilla 

 leydea, is confined to the Island of Teneriffe ; another, 

 F. madeirensis, is found in Madeira, the Canaries, 

 and the Azores ; a third, F. spodiogenys, inhabits 

 North-west Africa. The two remaining species 

 have a much wider range. F. ccclebs the common 

 Chaffinch occurs in Europe, while its range extends 

 eastward to Western Siberia, Persia, and Turkestan. 

 The other F. montifringilla, known as the Bramb- 

 ling is more common in Northern Europe, and 

 generally frequents the more northern latitudes of 

 Asia as far as Japan. 



It might be urged that the peculiar little blue 

 Magpie of Spain Cyanopolius Cooki should find a 

 place among the Lusitanian species, since there is 

 no bird like it anywhere else in Europe. But in 

 Eastern Siberia there lives a bird so closely allied 

 as to be barely distinguishable from it. Neverthe- 

 less, since there are some distinguishing characters, it 

 has received a distinct name C. cyanus. This is a 

 most interesting and remarkable case of discontinuous 

 distribution, which may perhaps be explained by the 

 supposition that the genus is of Oriental origin, and 



