BULLFINCH. 51 



PYRRHULA VULGARIS. 



BULLFINCH. 



(Plate 13.) 



Pyrrhula pyrrhula, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 308 (1760). 



Loxia pyrrliula, lAnn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 300 (1766). 



FringUla pyrrhula {Briss.), Temm. Man. d'Oi-n. p. 200 (1815). 



Pyrrhula europssa, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. iv. p. 286 (1816). 



Pyrrhula rufa, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 227 (1816). 



Pyrrhula vulgaris, Temm. Man. d'Orn. i. p. 338 (1820) ; et auctorum plurimorum 

 — Degland, Oerhe, Sam, Doderlein, Meyer, Bolle, Bddeher, Dubou, Naumann, 

 Bonaparte, Brehm, Blasius, Homeyer, Droste, Goebel, Stevenson, Gray, Fritseh, 

 Thompson, Cdbanis, Harting, Bussow, Seebohm S^ Harvie-Brovm, Severtzow, 

 Cordeaux, Sharpe, lAlford, Schlegel, Sachse, Finsch, Crown Piince Bvdolf, New- 

 ton, Brandt, Schalow, Blyth, Oould, Giglioli, Godman, &c. 



Pyrrhula pileata, MacgiU, Brit. B. i. p. 407 (1837). 



The Bullfinch is one of the best known of our smaller birds, and one 

 that from its tame and confiding nature is easily kept in confinement. 

 From its love of dense thickets and its retiring habits it is apt to be 

 regarded as much rarer than it really is. It is found commonly, although 

 more or less locally, in ail the wooded portions of Great Britain, and 

 occasionally breeds in the Channel Islands. It does not appear to visit the 

 Hebrides, these islands probably being too bare and treeless for such a 

 species. An example was obtained in Orkney in 1809 ; and in Shetland a 

 female was shot in 1863 at Halligarth. In Ireland the Bullfinch is said 

 not to be so common as in England, nevertheless it is to be met with 

 throughout the country. 



The Bullfinch breeds throughout North Europe and Asia, not extending 

 much beyond the Arctic circle. In South Europe, Turkestan, and South 

 Siberia it is principally known as a winter visitor, occasionally straying 

 as far south as Algeria and Asia Minor ; but a few remain to breed in 

 the mountains of North Portugal and Spain, North Italy, the Carpa- 

 thians, and the Caucasus. 



Throughout its extensive range the Bullfinch shows some slight varia- 

 tions both of size and colour. In Europe west of Poland and south 

 of Norway the birds are the smallest, the grey of the back is slightly 

 the darkest, the red of the underparts is least brilliant, and the tips 

 of the greater wing-coverts are grey. The extreme eastern form from 

 Kamtschatka is slightly larger, especially in the bill, the grey of the upper 

 parts is paler and brighter, and the tips of the greater wing-coverts 

 are pure white ; there is no red on the outside web of the first innermost 

 secondary, and the outside tail-feather has a white streak on the middle of 



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