Finches was one of the many species of birds found in Middle-earth. In the song In Western Lands beneath the Sun sung by Samwise Gamgee in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, he mentions that in western lands "the merry finches sing".[1]
After Smaug's death many birds were gathering around Erebor. Thorin saw among them "starlings and flocks of finches".[2]
Etymology
In a linguistic manuscript dating from the 1930s, appears the Qenya gloss liri ("finch").[3]
Other writings
In The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, a raven and a finch speak two of the verses,[4] reminiscent of the sentient thrushes and ravens in The Hobbit.
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Tower of Cirith Ungol"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "The Gathering of the Clouds".
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Qenya Noun Structure", in Parma Eldalamberon XXI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Patrick H. Wynne and Arden R. Smith), p. 14
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, pp. 116-117, 214-215