148 
PYRRIIULA FRONTALIS. 
also at once strike the eye of the least expert in 
discriminating species ; in the present bird, the tint is 
vivid crimson, whilst in the purple finch, it is rosaceous. 
In addition to these characters, the latter is a somewhat 
larger bird, with a pure white belly and inferior tail- 
coverts, and a deeply emarginated tail; whilst the 
former has a nearly even tail, and its belly and inferior 
tail-coverts are striped with dusky. 
Some persons, without doubt, may think it highly 
improper to separate generically two birds, so closely 
allied as the present species and the purple finch, which 
may be mistaken for the same species ; but we may 
remark, that they stand at the extreme limit of their 
respective genera, and form the links of union between 
Fyrrhula and Fringilla. It is true, that the intimate 
alliance of these two groups would seem to justify 
Illiger, Meyer, and others, in uniting them under the 
same genus ; but, as Fringilla is so vast in the number 
of its species, and Fyrrhula has a few distinctive cha- 
racters, we choose to follow Temminck, Vieillot, and 
other naturalists, by arranging them generically separate. 
The closeness of affinity between these two birds, w hen 
thus properly disposed, affords no good reason for the 
unity of their genera ; for, if we proceed to the abolition 
of all artificial distinction between genera united by 
almost imperceptible gradations, Sylvia w r ould be joined 
to Turdus , Myiothera to Troglodytes , Lanins to Mus- 
cicapa , the whole of these would be confused together; 
and, in fact, orders and classes would be considered as 
genera ; and even the vast groups, thus formed, would 
be still observed to unite inseparably at their extremes, 
and we should finally be compelled to consider all living 
bodies, both animal and vegetable, as belonging to one 
genus. This argument, however, may not convince 
every naturalist of the propriety of our arrangement, 
and they must, therefore, place the two species, strictly 
according to nature, in one genus, and consider the 
present as a Fringilla ; but how r unnatural w r iJl then be 
the situation of Fyrrhula vulgar is , and Pyrrhula enuc- 
leator ! 
