![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordhawfinch (HAW-finch) - n., a large Old World finch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) with a thick bill, a short tail, and brown, white, and black plumage.
Its closest New World relative is the evening grosbeak, and it indeed looks like a grosbeak that's been dipped in a late-autumn-toned paint jar. Named in 1676 by English ornithologist Francis Willughby after haw(thorn) + finch, after a berry it often eats. The Latin name Coccothraustes is derived from the Greek roots kokkos, seed/kernel + thrauĊ, break/shatter, and so rather more vivid.
---L.
Its closest New World relative is the evening grosbeak, and it indeed looks like a grosbeak that's been dipped in a late-autumn-toned paint jar. Named in 1676 by English ornithologist Francis Willughby after haw(thorn) + finch, after a berry it often eats. The Latin name Coccothraustes is derived from the Greek roots kokkos, seed/kernel + thrauĊ, break/shatter, and so rather more vivid.
---L.
