174



Dr. E. Hopkinson—The Greenfinch in Captivity



close-ringed “ aviary-bred ” Greenfinches and other birds are, of course,

merely a result of the Wild Bird Act of 1934 and of no value as records,

and many of the older records are also too vague ; for instance, Page in

B.N., viii, 202, says : “In the past ... I have bred the Greenfinch,

Bullfinch and Goldfinch freely, and also reared single broods of the

Siskin and Twite,’ 5 but how many of these and other similar records

are worth much ? In how many of the cases did the young live to

moult ? In how many did they live for a year or more, and was even

a second generation reached in a single case ?


The Algerian race (C . chloris aurantiiventris (Cab.)) has been at the

Zoo, and is no doubt kept occasionally in its own country ; it is a larger

and brighter edition of our bird. The Chinese Greenfinch (C . c. sinica

(Linn.)), with a larger yellow wing-patch than the European race, is

kept in China, has been at the Zoo, and a pair was exhibited at the

Crystal Palace about 1892. Shore Baily bred the race in 1915, two young

birds being hatched on 30th June, but both were dead by November.

Neunzig also records that in Prince Coburg’s collection, thirty or more

years ago, a pair got as far as eggs [Einh., 361).


The Japanese race (C. c. kawarhiba (Temm.)) is no doubt kept in its

own country, and there are two records of breeding in Europe, with the

male European Greenfinch and hybrids with the male Goldfinch. It

is very like the European bird, but duller and slightly smaller.


The following are the hybrid records I know of :—


Greenfinch x Japanese Greenfinch.


Recorded by Vale as having been bred and as having produced

fertile offspring. The cross is of course not a true hybrid, being merely

interracial.


Greenfinch X Sikhim Siskin ( Spinus tibetanus Hume).


There is unfortunately a good deal of confusion in the account of

this and the next species, both as to true and cross-breeding.


Shore Baily in B.N., 1914, 216, 245, using the name tibetanus y

records the rearing of one hybrid ; for this he was awarded the F.B.C.

Medal (B.N., Sept., inset). Writing later (A.M., 1919, 92), the breeder

says that he finds he was mistaken and that the name of the females

should have been spin aides, not tibetanus ; he adds that about the-



