finch

Everyday

A finch is a small songbird with a short, strong, cone-shaped beak for cracking seeds, such as a goldfinch, chaffinch or greenfinch. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons, Darwin's finches on the Galápagos Islands are a famous example of adaptation and evolution: different islands had finches with different beak shapes suited to different foods, which helped Charles Darwin develop his ideas. In gardens, finches come to bird feeders with seeds. Phrases: «Darwin's finches», «goldfinch», «chaffinch», «a charm of finches» (a group of goldfinches).

Examples

• A goldfinch came to our bird feeder. tree →
• Finches crack seeds with their strong beaks. tree →
• Darwin studied the finches of the Galápagos Islands. tree →
• The chaffinch is one of the commonest birds in Britain. tree →
• Each kind of finch had a beak shaped for its food. tree →
• A group of goldfinches is called a charm. tree →
• But the field and wood sparrows, the larks and finches, blackbirds and green finches had picked up the millet long ago, and the girl could not find her way. tree →

Note

Plural «finches» (add -es after ch). Capital F for the surname Finch (e.g. Atticus Finch in a famous novel). Trap: not every small brown bird is a finch; sparrows are a different family.