52 
CRIMSON-NECKED BULLFINCH. 
Purple Finch, whose habits also much resemble those of the 
Crimson-necked Bullfinch; but the form of its bill is certainly that 
of a Finch, and will always distinguish it from the species we are 
describing, the bill of which is unequivocally of the Bullfinch form. 
The different tints of red adorning these birds, will 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 some¬ 
what 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 spe¬ 
cies 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 
Pyrrhula and Fringilla. It is true, that the intimate alliance of 
these two groups would seem to justify Uliger, Meyer, and others, 
in uniting them under the same genus; but, as Fringilla is so vast 
in the number of its species, and Pyrrhula has a few distinctive 
characters, we choose to follow Temminck, Vieillot, and other 
naturalists, by arranging them generically separate. The closeness 
of affinity between these two birds, when 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 would be joined 
to Turdus, JHyiothera to Troglodytes , Lanius to Jfluscicapa, 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 
