GREENFIELD

greenfield, a township and the county-seat of franklin county, in n.e. massachusetts, u.s.a., including an area of 20 sq. m. of meadow and hill country, watered by the green and deerfield rivers and various small tributaries. pop. (1890) 5252, (1900) 7927, of whom 1431 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 10,427. the principal village, of the same name as the township, is situated on the n. bank of the deerfield river, and on the boston & maine railway and the connecticut valley street railway (electric). among greenfield's manufactures are cutlery, machinery, and taps and dies. greenfield, originally part of deerfield, was settled about 1682, was established as a "district" in 1753, and on the 23rd of august 1775 was, by a general act, separated from deerfield and incorporated as a separate township, although it had assumed full township rights in 1774 by sending delegates to the provincial congress. in 1793 part of it was taken to form the township of gill; in 1838 part of it was annexed to bernardston; and in 1896 it annexed a part of deerfield. it was much disaffected at the time of shays's rebellion. see f. m. thompson, _history of greenfield_ (2 vols., greenfield, 1904). greenfinch (ger. _grunfink_), or green linnet, as it is very often called, a common european bird, the _fringilla chloris_ of linnaeus, ranked by many systematists with one section of hawfinches, _coccothraustes_, but apparently more nearly allied to the other section _hesperiphona_, and perhaps justifiably deemed the type of a distinct genus, to which the name _chloris_ or _ligurinus_ has been applied. the cock, in his plumage of yellowish-green and yellow is one of the most finely coloured of common english birds, but he is rather heavily built, and his song is hardly commended. the hen is much less brightly tinted. throughout britain, as a rule, this species is one of the most plentiful birds, and is found at all seasons of the year. it pervades almost the whole of europe, and in asia reaches the river ob. it visits palestine, but is unknown in egypt. it is, however, abundant in mauritania, whence specimens are so brightly coloured that they have been deemed to form a distinct species, the _ligurinus aurantiiventris_ of dr cabanis, but that view is now generally abandoned. in the north-east of asia and its adjacent islands occur two allied species--the _fringilla sinica_ of linnaeus and the _f. kawarahiba_ of temminck. (a. n.)