PYRRHULA VULGARIS .
J G ould/ & TL.G .Buhter, d el eb Tulo
Walter. Imp
Bullfinch.
Loxia pyrrhula, Linn. Faun. Suec.. p. HI.
Frmgilla pyrrhula, Teuun. Man. d’Orn., (1815) p. *200.
Pyrrhula europaa, Leach. Syst. C at of Iridig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 13.
——:— f | rubicilla, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom. xi. p. 7.
------------ vulgaris, Temm. Man. d'Ora.. 2d edit. tom. i. p. 338.
-——i rufa, Koch, Baier. ZooL, tom. i. p. 227.
-T—-i—-— pileata, Mscgill. Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. t p. 407.
B efore writing a history of our own Bullfinch, it may not be uninteresting to give a short summary of the
k n o w n m e m b e r s of the remarkably well-defined genus Pyrrhula, an old-world form, the various species of
which enjoy a range of habitat extending from the British Islands through Asia to Japan. None have
yet been discovered in America; and North Africa would seem to be eqnally nusnited to these birds,
since our own well-known species is the only one therein. The great Himalayan
Ktnge of mountains appears to be tbeir headquarters;'Em aware, none occur in the
southern parts of India, the Malay peninsula, or
strictly a northe
and PI coccinea 1
that has been found there
;rs ; and, so far as I mm
any of the islands to the southward. It is therefore
genus. On the continent of Europe there are two species, Pyrrhula vulgaris
P. marina inhabits the Azores; P. nipalensis Nepaul, Sikhim, and Boota P.
erythaca the mountains I
aurantia Cashmere; and
over England that it won
than another : at the «»«if
is seldom seen. waste
may be desrowd
jrdering Nepaul and Sikhim; P. eiylhrocephala the Western Himalayas; P.
P. orieulalis Japan. Our favourite Bullfinch is so generally distributed
id he useless to particularize any one county in which it may be found more
ij,- .. it y not alike plentiful in every district ; for there are localities in which it
abondant in others. In Scotland and in Ireland it is less generally distributed. It
land bird, «fleeting more especially those parts in which the larch is the prevailing
in the hedgerows and plantations, both of lowland and hilly districts, andat certain
visits the gardens, and commits depredations on fruit-trees
birds. This trait in its character has very justly obtained it
inehecked would be beyond the patience of mortals whose
of their existence. On examination, however, of the form
i»ce aware that it is “ Bully’s ” nature so to feed, and that its
tceordanee with nature’s intentions—as it is for the Hawas
every horticulturist
led by any other of on
o allow such havoc to
, and whose fruit-trees
to an extent uncqu;
many enemies; for
gardens are tbeir jo
and structure of its scoop-like bill we become at tm
attacks upon the flower-buds of trees are in strict *
finch to split open the hard seeds of the whitethorn
Throughout this work I have been a champion for o
could in words, on account of the great amount o:
of the destructive propensities of many of them.
Bullfinches will strip ai
beneath will be entirely >
order that the bird m.'v
cherries, blackthorn, and
dissected dozens of the«
gillivray states that tlu
particles of quartz.
the ch.
entire fruit-tree of its buds w
overed with tbeir outer covering
■ secure the insect-larvie suppo
larch, and the seeds of heath, at
■ birds, never found any remain«
>nly
he laurel, to obtain the kernels within. '
persecuted birds, and defended them as well as I
hev effect; at the name time I am not unmindful
mither of C'hurr. informs me that two or three
th sucih ramditv that in a few hours the ground
s. It has been said that the buds are removed in
>d to be within them. But while the buds of
: constantly found in their crops, Mr. Selby, who
of larvae in their crops or stomachs; and Macand
species was iiot common in
destroying buds and flower
to give such a character to
against one sio interesting ;
is no doubt.
Speaking of the Bnllfii
the
tances he detected therein were small seeds of various :
duals examined, some were shot in February and April; but as the
« where he had resided in spring, he was unable to ascertain whether in
1 was searching for insects or feeding on those substances. I am sorry
hird as the Bullfinch, or to be the cause of a single hand being raised
truth must be told; and that he is a sadly destructive little fellow there
in Irela:
in the county of Antrim, near Belfasi
growth maintained their ground; but i
‘ few and far between' are even it
home in sequestered situations, wh
In ‘ Nature’s wild domain
associated with it in the garde
Mr. Thomson says, “ In some picturesque and ext
e bird was common so long as the hazel and holl
as these were swept away, it deserted such localities as
temporary visits. In the neighbouring county
:e the hazel predominates, and in this shrubby tree i
the Bullfinch looks eminently beautiful, and can be admired ■
■ the chard, ; proves destructive I
Do'
without the
ig the buds
alloy
of the