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British finches are often associated with mules, a term used by cage bird breeders to refer to hybrids of finch species bred in captivity, such as that of a goldfinch and canary. There are now strict ringing regulations on British finches in places such as the UK , but they are still kept by aviculturists who care for them in much the same way ...
The family Fringillidae are the "true" finches. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 239 species in the family, distributed among three subfamilies and 50 genera. Confusingly, only 79 of the species include "finch" in their common names, and several other families include species called finches.
Taxonomic recommendations for British birds (both in PDF format). The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and RSPB A to Z of UK Birds; Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palaearctic lists – Martin Collinson, British Birds vol 99 (June 2006), 306–323; British Trust for Ornithology surveys
The name Fringillidae for the finch family was introduced in 1819 by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the British Museum. [3] [4] The taxonomy of the family, in particular the cardueline finches, has a long and complicated history.
The Macmillan Field Guides to Bird Identification are two small bird field guides. Volume 1, The Macmillan Field Guide to Bird Identification , illustrated by Alan Harris and Laurel Tucker , with text by Keith Vinicombe , was originally published in 1989, covered British birds.
The term "Darwin's finches" was first applied by Percy Lowe in 1936, and popularised in 1947 by David Lack in his book Darwin's Finches. [7] [8] Lack based his analysis on the large collection of museum specimens collected by the 1905–06 Galápagos expedition of the California Academy of Sciences, to whom Lack dedicated his 1947 book. The ...
The female and young birds are duller and have brown tones on the back. The bill is thick and conical. [11] The song contains a lot of trilling twitters interspersed with wheezes, and the male has a "butterfly" display flight. Male greenfinch birds exhibit higher degrees of fluctuating asymmetry.
This is considered undesirable, as it detracts from the allure of keeping European goldfinches. In Great Britain during the 19th century, many thousands of European goldfinches were trapped each year to be sold as cage birds. One of the earliest campaigns of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was directed against this trade. [26]