Spinus obscurus C.L. Brehm

Spinus obscurus C.L. Brehm, 1855: 108 (Aeusserst selten in Deutschland).

Now considered an aberrant specimen of Carduelis spinus (Linnaeus, 1758) . See Hartert 1903: 71; and Hartert, 1918: 10.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 456881, female, collected in the Thüringer Wald, Germany, on 6 April 1819. From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Brehm described only the female and said that it was very rare in Germany. He probably had a single specimen, which is apparently lacking all yellow pigment in the plumage.