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PYRRHULA MAJOR, Brehm.

Northern Bullfinch.

Loxia pyrrhula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 300 (1766).
i Fringilla pyrrhula, Meyer, Vog. Liv- u. Esthl. p. 81 (1815).
y Pyrrhula major, Brehm, Vég. Deutschl. p. 252 (1831).—Dresser, Birds of Europe, pt. 51.
Pyrrhula coccinea, De Selys Longchamps, Faune Belge, p. 79 (1842).—Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 442.—Degland &
Gerbe, Orn. Eur. i. p. 251.—Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 99, no. 7481.—Tristram, Ibis, 1871, p. 232.
Pyrrhula vulgaris, Kjerb. (nec Temm.), Orn. Dan. pl. xxviii. fig. 2.—Sundev. Svenska Fogl. pl. ii. figs. 4, 5.

 

Tuts fine Bullfinch is very similar to our English bird, but is half as large again in size, and is much brighter
in colour. It has not yet occurred in the British Islands, where the smaller Pyrrhula europea takes its
place, and represents it in Western and Central Europe. In Scandinavia, however, the present species is

f the only Bullfinch, and ranges throughout Northern Europe into Siberia, whence Mr. Henry Seebohm has

/ received a beautiful series of specimens from the neighbourhood of Kras-no-yarsk ; while Mr. Dresser has
seen it from the Onon and the Ussuri rivers, where it meets with Pyrrhula cineracea. To the southward it
is met with during winter occasionally in Germany, Holland, and Belgium, and, according to Messrs.
Degland and Gerbe, numbers occurred near Lille in December 1830. It is also common in Greece in
winter, and is likewise found plentifully in Southern Russia.

Mr. Dresser, in his work on the Birds of Europe, states that its habits, mode of nidification, and song
are similar to those of its near ally the common Bullfinch ; he has received the nest and eggs from Sweden,
and can see no difference between the latter and those of the common species, excepting that they are
rather larger in size. According to Mr. Collett, it feeds in winter on the seeds of Sorbus aucuparia, Acer

platanoides, Fravinus, Symphoricarpus, Rubus ideus, Syringa, and other bushes and trees. In Norway the
eggs are laid towards the end of May, and about the end of June the young leave the nest, and wander
about in parties with the old females, the old males being generally found separately. Mr. Collett also
states that, like the common Bullfinch, the northern species is subject to melanism, and he has four black
specimens in the Christiania Museum.

A full description of the present species 1s scarcely necessary ; for in colour it is almost an exact counter-
part of the ordinary English Bullfinch, but is of larger size, has a stouter bill, and more vivid red breast.
The measurements are given by Mr. Dresser as follows :—

“Male. Total length about 6°20 inch, culmen 0:45, wing 3°8, tail 3°1, tarsus 0-8.

‘Female. Culmen 0°45 inch, wing 3°75, tail 2°95, tarsus ee

The Plate represents two males and a female, of the natural size. The figures are drawn froma beautiful

pair of birds from Western Siberia, presented to me by Mr. Seebohm.