 In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the white-winged snowfinch in his "Ornithologie" based on a specimen but without specifying where it had been collected.He used the French name "Le pinçon de neige ou la niverolle" and the Latin "Fringilla nivalis".Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.