

PYRRHULA MAJOR, Brehm. 



Northern Bullfinch . 



Loxia pyrrhula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 300 (1766). 



Fringilla pyrrhula, Meyer, Vog. Liv- u. Esthl. p. 81 (1815). 



Pyrrhula major, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 252 (1831).— Dresser, Birds of Europe, pt. 61. 



Pyrrhula coccinea, De Selys Longchamps, Faune Beige, p. 79 (1842) .— Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 442 — Degland & 



Gerbe, Orn. Eur. i. p. 251.— Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 99, no. 7481.— Tristram, Ibis, 1871, p. 232. 

 Pyrrhula vulgaris, Kjserb. (nee Temm.), Orn. Dan. pi. xxviii. fig. 2.— Sundev. Svenska Fogl. pi. ii. figs. 4, 5. 



Tins fine Bullfinch is very similar to our English bird, but is half as large again in size, and is much brighter 

 in colour. It has not yet occurred in the British Islands, where the smaller Pyrrhula europoea takes its 

 place, and represents it in Western and Central Europe. In Scandinavia, however, the present species is 

 the only Bullfinch, and ranges throughout Northern Europe into Siberia, whence Mr. Henry Seebohm has 

 received a beautiful series of specimens from the neighbourhood of Kras-no-yarsk ; while Mr. Dresser has 

 seen it from the Onon and the Ussuri rivers, where it meets with Pyrrhula cineracea. To the southward it 

 is met with during winter occasionally in Germany, Holland, and Belgium, and, according to Messrs. 

 Degland and Gerbe, numbers occurred near Lille in December 1830. It is also common in Greece in 

 winter, and is likewise found plentifully in Southern Russia. 



Mr. Dresser, in his work on the Birds of Europe, states that its habits, mode of nidification, and son"- 

 are similar to those of its near ally the common Bullfinch ; he has received the nest and eggs from Sweden, 

 and can see no difference between the latter and those of the common species, excepting that they are 

 rather larger in size. According to Mr. Collett, it feeds in winter on the seeds of Sorbus aucuparia, Acer 

 platanoides, Fraocinus, Symphoricarpus, Rubus idceus, Syringa, and other bushes and trees. In Norway the 

 eggs are laid towards the end of May, and about the end of June the young leave the nest, and wander 

 about in parties with the old females, the old males being generally found separately. Mr. Collett also 

 states that, like the common Bullfinch, the northern species is subject to melanism, and he has four black 

 specimens in the Christiania Museum. 



A full description of the present species is scarcely necessary ; for in colour it is almost an exact counter- 

 part of the ordinary English Bullfinch, but is of larger size, has a stouter bill, and more vivid red breast. 

 The measurements are given by Mr. Dresser as follows : — 



"Male. Total length about 6*25 inch, culmen 045, wing 3*8, tail 3*1, tarsus 0*8. 



"Female. Culmen 0*45 inch, wing 3*75, tail 2*95, tarsus 0'7." 



The Plate represents two males and a female, of the natural size. The figures are drawn from a beautiful 

 pair of birds from Western Siberia, presented to me by Mr. Seebohm. 



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