THE PARSON FINCH: a short history and a sad extinction
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THE parson finch (Poephila cincta) is one of the best known and most popular of the Australian grassfinches. From reading the avicultural literature over many years, I believe that one of the reasons for its popularity is its stocky build (accentuated by its short tail), when compared to the other two of the closely related species in the genus Poephila, the long-tailed and masked finches (P. acuticauda, P. personata).
In February 1836, John Gould, the”. Details were published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society in February 1837. The specimen he described it from had been taken in the Upper Hunter district of New South Wales. However, to avoid further confusion the “banded grass-finch” was given the name “black-throated finch” in 1898 by Edward Morris in his – and it is still its “correct” name 124 years later!
