Bullfinch

1 United States architect who designed the Capitol Building in Washington which served as a model for state capitols throughout the United States (1763-1844) [syn: Charles Bullfinch]

2 common European finch mostly black and white with red throat and breast [syn: Pyrrhula pyrrhula]

English

Noun

bullfinch (plural bullfinches)

1. Any of various Old World finches in the genus Pyrrhula that have thick bills.

Translations

• Finnish: punatulkku
• Latin: pyrrhula
• Polish: gil
• Russian: снегирь /sn'egír'/
• Spanish: camachuelo

Bullfinch is a name given to two groups of passerine birds.

The true bullfinches are thick-billed finches in the passerine family Fringillidae. They comprise the genus Pyrrhula. These birds are restricted to the Old World, and are:

• Brown Bullfinch, Pyrrhula nipalensis
• White-cheeked Bullfinch, Pyrrhula leucogenis
• Orange Bullfinch, Pyrrhula aurantiaca
• Red-headed Bullfinch, Pyrrhula erythrocephala
• Grey-headed Bullfinch, Pyrrhula erythaca
• Eurasian Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula
• Azores Bullfinch, Pyrrhula murina

There is an unrelated group of New World birds also named as bullfinches because of their superficial resemblances to the above species. These passerines were placed in the large bunting and American "sparrow" family Emberizidae, but are now considered tanagers (Thraupidae). Three are in the genus Loxigilla:

• Puerto Rican Bullfinch, Loxigilla portoricensis
• Greater Antillean Bullfinch, Loxigilla violacea
• Lesser Antillean Bullfinch, Loxigilla noctis

The fourth is

• Cuban Bullfinch, Melopyrrha nigra

External links

• Bullfinch videos on the Internet Bird Collection