bullspink

English

Etymology

bull +‎ spink.

Noun

bullspink (plural bullspinks)

1. (dialectal, obsolete) A chaffinch or a bullfinch.
   • 1794, James Bolton, “Nest and Eggs of the Chaffinch”, in Harmonia Ruralis; or, An Essay towards a Natural History of British Song Birds, volume 1, page 24:

     Their haunts are stubble fields, and in very severe weather, farm-yards, where they feed among the chaff and refuse of the corn; hence they get the name of Chaffinch. In Yorkshire this bird is known by the name Bullspink.

   • 1886 July, W. Eagle Clarke, W. Denison Roebuck, William Storey, “Upper Nidderdale and Its Fauna”, in Wm. Denison Roebuck, editor, The Naturalist, number 132, London, page 200:

     Chaffinch. Fringilla celebs. A common resident. Locally known as the ‘bullspink.’ Observed above Angram, at 1,050 feet.

   • 1895, John Trafford Clegg, “Calder Valley”, in The Works of John Trafford Clegg ["Th' Owd Weighver."] Stories, Sketches, and Rhymes, Chiefly in the Rochdale Dialect, Rochdale: The Aldine Press, page 397, column 2:

     Eh ! what a grand shop this is ! It's makin me feel as pyert as a bullspink, an' as leet i' th' anclif as a gruand !