Chloris chloris

The European greenfinch, or just greenfinch (Chloris chloris), is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. This bird is widespread throughout Europe, north Africa and south west Asia. It is mainly resident, but some northernmost populations migrate further south. The greenfinch has also been introduced into both Australia and New Zealand. In Malta, it is considered a prestigious song bird, and it has been trapped for many years. It has been domesticated, and many Maltese people breed them. In Hungary, it is threatened. The greenfich was described by Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name of Loxia chloris. The specific epithet is from khloris, the Ancient Greek name for this bird, from khloros, 'green'. The finch family, Fringillidae, is divided into two subfamilies, the Carduelinae, containing around 28 genera with 141 species and the Fringillinae containing a single genus, Fringilla, with 3 species. The finch family are all seed-eaters with stout conical bills. They have similar skull morphologies, nine large primaries, twelve tail feathers and no crop. In all species the female bird builds the nest, incubates the eggs and broods the young. Fringilline finches raise their young almost entirely on arthropods while the cardueline finches raise their young on regurgitated seeds. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2012 indicated that the greenfinches are not closely related to other members of the genus Carduelis. They have therefore been placed in a separate genus Chloris. There are ten recognised subspecies: The greenfinch is 15 cm (5.9 in) long with a wing span of 24.5 to 27.5 cm (9.6 to 10.8 in). It is similar in size and shape to a house sparrow, but is mainly green, with yellow in the wings and tail. The female and young birds are duller and have brown tones on the back. The bill is thick and conical. The song contains a lot of trilling twitters interspersed with wheezes, and the male has a 'butterfly' display flight. Woodland edges, farmland hedges and gardens with relatively thick vegetation are favoured for breeding. It nests in trees or bushes, laying 3 to 6 Eggs.