3 ° 
ALLEN’S NATURALIST’S LIBRARY. 
THE FINCHES. FAMILY FRINGILLIDH5. 
The great family of Finches is of wide distribution in both 
hemispheres. It is especially characteristic of the northern 
parts of both the Old and New Worlds, and its members 
possess an exceeding diversity of form, so that the characters 
of the family are not easily tabulated. They possess only nine 
primary quills, and are remarkable for their conical-shaped 
bill, which has gained for them the name of Conirostres in 
most systems of classification. 
I have, in the “ Catalogue of Birds ” (vol. xii.), divided the 
Finches into three sub families, as follows (i) Coccothrau- 
stime, or Grosbeaks, (2) Fringillinse, or Finches, and (3) Emberi- 
zinae, or Buntings. 
THE GROSBEAKS. SUB-FAM. COCCOTHRAUSTINHi. 
In these Finches the bill is extremely powerful, especially in 
the typical forms, and in the skull the nasal bones are 
extended backwards beyond the anterior line of the orbit. 
In this sub-family are found all the Hawfinches and large 
Grosbeaks of Europe and Asia, but there are no representa- 
tions in Africa or Australia. Both North and South America 
possess a large number of Grosbeaks, and some of the smaller 
forms, such as Spermophila, are characteristic of the Neotropi- 
cal region. 1 
TIIE GREENFINCHES. GENUS CIILORIS. 
Chloris, Cuv., Lecons d’Anat. Comp., i., tab. 2 (1800). 
Type, C. chloris (Linn.). 
The Greenfinches have a very stout and conical bill with 
the nostrils placed high in the mandible, so that they are 
situated nearer to the culmen than to the cutting edge 
of the bill. The secondary quills are of ordinary form and 
are not falcated or “ bill-hook ” shaped as in the Hawfinch 
which is the only other British Finch which has a stoutly- 
built bill like the Greenfinch. 
Five species of true Greenfinches are known, our English 
bird (C. chloris ), which extends throughout Europe to Central 
