The white-winged snowfinch, or snowfinch, is a small passerine bird. Despite its name, it is a sparrow rather than a true finch.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the white-winged snowfinch in his Ornithologie based on a specimen but without specifying where it had been collected. He used the French nameLe pinçon de neige ou la niverolle and the Latin Fringilla nivalis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the white-winged snowfinch. Linnaeus included a brief description, used the binomial nameFringilla nivalis and cited Brisson's work. Linnaeus listed the type location as "America". The type location was subsequently designated as Switzerland. The specific namenivalis is Latin for "snowy" or "snow-white". This species is now placed in the genusMontifringilla that was introduced by the German ornithologist Christian Ludwig Brehm in 1828. Seven subspecies are recognised:
M. n. groumgrzimaili Zarudny & Loudon, 1904 – northwest China to central Mongolia
M. n. kwenlunensisBianchi, 1908 – west central China and north Tibet
Description
The white-winged snowfinch is a large stocky snowfinch at in length. It has brown upperparts, white underparts and a grey head. There is a long narrow white wing panel. In summer, the bill is black, and there is a black bib. The bib is lost in winter and the bill becomes yellow. Sexes are similar. in December showing winter colours including an orange beak In flight, it shows black wings with huge white wing panels, and a white edged black tail. This bird has a chattering song with many trills, and variety of rolling or creaky calls. in winter
Distribution and habitat
It is a resident breeding species on bare mountains, typically above, across southern Europe and through central Asia to western China. It nests in crevices or rodent burrows, laying 3–4 eggs.
Behaviour
The white-winged snowfinch's food is mainly seeds with some insects. It is fearless, and will forage around ski resorts. It is hardy, and rarely descends below even in hard winter weather.
