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 Illiger, 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, .*yiothera to Troglodytes, Lanius to Jluscicapa, 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


AIA
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