What is Bullfinch?
{{Taxobox | name = Bullfinches | image =Bullfinch male.jpg | image_caption = Eurasian bullfinch, male | image_width = 230px | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[bird|Aves]] | ordo = [[Passerine|Passeriformes]] | familia = [[Fringillidae]] | subfamilia = [[Carduelinae]] | genus = '''''Pyrrhula'''''}} [[File:Pyrrhula pyrrhula female 2.jpg|thumb|230px|Eurasian bullfinch, female]] '''Bullfinches''' are a [[genus]] of [[passerine]] birds in the [[finch]] family ([[Fringillidae]]). They belong to the genus '''''Pyrrhula'''''. The genus has a [[palearctic]] distribution. All species occur in Asia with two species exclusively in the [[Himalayas]] and one species, ''P. pyrrhula'', also occurring in Europe. The [[Azores bullfinch]] (''P. murina'') is a critically [[endangered species]] (about 120 pairs remaining), occurring only in the east of the island of [[São Miguel Island|São Miguel]] in the [[Azores]] [[archipelago]]. Analysis of the [[mitochondria]]l DNA [[cytochrome|cytochrome ''b'']] [[DNA sequence|sequence]] indicates that the [[holarctic]] [[pine grosbeak]] (''Pinicola enucleator'') is the sister group to the ancestor of the bullfinches.<ref>Arnaiz-Villena A ''et al.'' 2001. [http://www.springerlink.com/content/lc24a9vybanmw0gq/fulltext.pdf Phylogeography of crossbills, bullfinches, grosbeaks, and rosefinches]{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. ''Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences''. '''58''': 1159–1166.</ref> The [[evolution]] of the bullfinch species started soon after the pine grosbeak's ancestors diverged from them (at the end of the middle [[Miocene]], about a [[dozen]] million years ago (mya). It is fairly certain is that the bullfinch radiation started in the general area of the [[Himalayas]]. The [[mountain finch]]es also seem to be part of this [[clade]].<ref>Marten, Jill A. & Johnson, Ned K. 1986. Genetic relationships of North American cardueline finches. ''Condor'' '''88'''(4): 409-420. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/C