THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fifth Series .—VoL II.—No. 11. —All rights reserved. NOVEMBER, 1937.



THE GREEN-FACED PARROT FINCH OR

LUZON FINCH


(Erythrura viridifacies)


By J. Delacour and the Marquess Hachisuka


It is, indeed, a curious thing that an entirely new species of bird

should have been made known to science through a mass importation

of captive specimens, while it had remained undiscovered in its native

country, which, at the same time, is one of the best known, ornitholo-

gically speaking.


None of the numerous collectors who had visited the Philippine

Islands had ever obtained there a Parrot Finch. The first record of

such a bird from the Archipelago was by Mr. L. H. Taft, of the Forestry

Service, at Los Bagnos, near Manila in 1920. Several young Parrot

Finches were found dead near a wire netting fence, against which

they had flown. The four specimens sent to Washington for identifica¬

tion were in poor conditions, and Dr. Richmond could only say that they

belonged to the genus Erythrura.


No more was heard of these mysterious birds till 1935, when we

heard that a large number of Parrot Finches, sent from Manila, were

sold in California as “ Luzon Finches ”. One of us acquired some at

once in Los Angeles and began to study them. Others were examined



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