Home Amphibians Birds Fish Mammals Reptiles

 
 
Greenfinch

                        GREENFINCH, common name for four species of songbirds of the family 
                        Fringillidae, formerly given their own genus, Chloris, but now placed in 
                        the large genus Carduelis, which also includes the goldfinches and
                        siskins. The best-known species is the European greenfinch, C.
                        chloris, which breeds throughout Europe east to Iran and adjacent areas of the
                        former USSR. It is about 14.5 cm long. Males are dull yellow-green,
                        with conspicuous yellow patches on the wings and tail. Females are duller and
                        browner, with the wing and tail patches paler yellow. The song of the greenfinch is
                        an attractive canarylike warble, and the species is a popular cage bird in countries
                        where they are not protected by law. The three other species are confined to Asia:
                        the yellow-breasted greenfinch, C. spinoides; the black-headed greenfinch, C.
                        ambigua; and the oriental greenfinch, C. sinica, which has strayed to Alaska