Spectacled Finch

SCI Name:  Callacanthis burtoni
Protonym:  Carduelis Burtoni Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1837) (1837), Pt5 no.57 p.90
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Fringillidae / Callacanthis
Taxonomy Code:  spefin1
Type Locality:  Himalayas ; restricted to Srinagar, Kashmir, by Baker, 1921, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, 27, p. 729.
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1838
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

CALLACANTHIS
(Fringillidae; † Spectacled Finch C. burtoni) Gr. καλλος kallos  beauty  < καλος kalos  beautiful; ακανθις akanthis  small unidentified bird, perhaps some sort of finch, mentioned by Aristotle and other authors; Reichenbach's 1850, plate LXXVIII, labelled Passerinae: Pyrrhulinae Coccothraustinae, shows the distinctive head pattern of the Spectacled or Red-browed Finch; "*1038. Callacanthis, Reichenb. 1840. (Carduelis! hinc Fringilla, p. Gould. - Fringilla, p. Gr.) Rostrum validissimum! vix Fringillae!!., minime Carduelis!!!  Asia central.  1.  CARDUELIS burtoni, Gould, 1830. (Fringilla erythrophrys, Blyth, 1846. - Fr. burtoni, Gould, 1849. - Burtonia erythrophrys, Bp. in litt.) As. Journ. Beng. 1846. p. 38. - Gould, Birds of Asia I. t. 13. mas et faem.  ex Asia centrali." (Bonaparte 1850 (Conspectus, p. 507)); "M. Gould le décrivit, il y a quelques années, sous le nom de Carduelis burtoni, malgré son gros bec, à cause du rouge de sa tête et de la couleur de ses ailes. Tout récemment, dans son bel ouvrage sur les Oiseaux d'Asie, peut-être influencé par mes remontrances, il en fit un Pinson; mais ce rapprochement n'est guère plus heureux. Nous le nommerons CALLACANTHIS" (Bonaparte 1850 (Comptes Rendus XXXI (14), p. 479)); "Callacanthis Bonaparte (ex Reichenbach MS), 1851?, Consp. Avium, 1 (1850), p. 507. Type, by monotypy, Carduelis burtoni Gould." (Paynter in Peters, 1968, XIV, p. 262); "Callacanthis Reichenbach, 1850.  Avium Systema Naturale, Section 6, Insessores Enucleatores, pl. lxxviii.  Type by subsequent monotypy, Bonaparte, 1850, Conspectus Generum Avium, 1, p. 507., Carduelis burtoni Gould, 1838.  Section 6 of Reichenbach's generic details has been dated 1 June 1850 by Meyer (1897: vi), with no current evidence to the contrary, whereas livraison 64 of Bonaparte's work bears the printers date of 30 August 1850, and is considered by most commentators to have been issued during December 1850." (Kirwan and Gregory, 2005, Bull. British Ornith. Club, 125 (1), p. 77).
Var. Callocanthis.
Synon. Burtonia.

burtoni
● Prof. Sir John Burton Cleland (1878-1971) Australian pathologist, mycologist, ornithologist (Laurent Raty in litt.) (syn. Acanthiza nana).
● Dr Philip John Kennedy Burton (b. 1936) English ornithologist, wild-life artist, collector (syn. Actenoides hombroni).
● Surgeon-Maj. Edward Burton (1790-1867) British Army, naturalist (Callacanthis).
● Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) English explorer (disguised as Al-Haj Abdullah, made pilgrimage to Mecca 1853), scholar, linguist (translated 'The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'), Consul at Fernando Póo 1861-1865, Santos 1865-1869, Damascus 1869-1871 and Trieste 1872 (Björn Bergenholtz in litt.) (syn. Caprimulgus vexillarius).
● "The following descriptions of a few birds, which appear new to the fauna of West Africa, may interest some of your readers. They were collected on the Cameroons Mountains, at an elevation of 7000 feet above the level of the sea. They were brought to this country by Mrs. Isabel Burton, the estimable lady of the distinguished traveller and Vice-Consul, Capt. Burton, and kindly presented by her to the British Museum" (G. Gray 1862) (Crithagra).
● "I dedicate this magnificent new species  ... to Mr. Walter Burton, of London, who had the kindness to dispose of it in my favour" (Boucard 1891) (OD per Björn Bergenholtz) (syn. Sephanoides sephaniodes).