BULLFINCH, or BULFINCH, Latin Pyrrhula, French Bouvreuil, the name of a genus of Birds separated by Brisson from the Groabeaks, afterwards again incorporated with them, and since by Temminck and others again arranged under Brissou's name Pyrrhula.
The following is Temminck'a generic character :— Beak short, hard, conico-convex, thick, swollen (bomb4) on the sides, compressed at the point and towards the edge (arete) which advances upon the forehead; upper mandible always curved ; lower mandible mere or less so. Nostrils basal, lateral, rounded, most frequently hidden by the plumage of the forehead. Feet with the tarsus shorter than the middle toe ; the front toes entirely divided. Wings short, the three first quills graduated (etagees), the fourth longest. Tail rather long, slightly rounded or squared.
The place generally assigned by ornithologists to the Bullfinches, between the Grosbeaks and the Croesbills, appears to be their proper position. Their food consists principally of seeds and kernels ; and though the smaller species confine themselves for the most part to grain or seeds, which they open, rejecting the husk, some of the foreign species, as Temminck observes, have the bill excessively large and strong, and capable of fracturing the most ligneous seed-cases. Cold and temperate climates, adds the author last quoted, appear to pro duce the greatest number of species. They are found in Europe and America. The north of Asia appears to be equally their cradle, but they have never yet been observed in Australia, and but few have been noticed in Africa, while South America produces many. All the known species are subject to a double moult. The males and females differ, and can be easily distinguished in all stages of life. The young of the year differ but little from the old birds, and only till their autumnal moult.
Of the European species the Common Bullfinch may be taken as an example. It is Le Bouvreuil and Bouvreuil Commun of the French, accordiug to Belon ; Fringucllo Marino, Ciufolotto, Suffuleno, and Monachino, of the Italians ; Dom-Pape of the Danes and Norwegians ; Dom-Herre of the Fauna Sueciea ;' Blutfinck, Rothbrustiger, and Der Gimpel of the Germans ; De Goudvink of the Netherlanders; Losia Pyrrhula of Linnaeus, and Pyrrhula rulgaris of Brisson. The provin
cial names are Norsk-Pipe, Coalhood, Hoop, Tony Hoop, Alp, and Hope.
Male.—Length about 61 inches, two inches and three-quarters being taken up by the tail, which is rather forked, and of a lustrous black, shot as it were with iron blue. Bill six lines in length, abort, thick, and black. Shanks eight lines high, and black. Irides of a chestnut colour. Crown of the head, circle round the bill, and upper part of the throat, of the same hue with the tail Nape, back, and shoulders deep gray, or rather bluish-gray. Cheeks, neck, breast, belly (to the centre of it), and flanks, red. Rump and vent white. Greater wing coverts tipped and margined with a French or pinkish white, forming a transverse bar across the wing.
• Female.—Somewhat less than the male, and of a reddish-gray where he is red ; back brownish-gray ; feet brownish-black. The colours generally less bright than in the male.
The young of the year are at first ash-colour, with wings and tail of blackish-brown; afterwards more like the female till the autumnal moult; but the young males may always be known by the greater tinge of red about the breast.
There are several varieties : 1. Black.—This variety may be produced artificially by feeding the bird entirely on hemp-seed, in which case a change of diet will often produce the true colours. Bechstein says it will arise from being kept when young in a totally dark place ; and that females, either from age or from the diet above mentioned, are most subject to it.
2. White.—This is merely an albino of an ashy or dusky white, or cream-colour : the parts which are generally black are more shaded than the rest. There is a specimen from Middlesex in the British Museum.