D 5 



PERCHING P)IRDS 



breast, and the flanks are brown with streaks of a darker shade. A 

 general duller tone of colour, with more streaks on the back, the 

 yellow restricted to the crown of the head and an e\-ebrow-stripe, 

 and little or no chestnut on the loins and breast, distinguish the hens ; 

 while }-oung birds show no yellow at all, and but few streaks on the 

 under-parts. 



The yellow hammer may be regarded as t\'picall\' a resident 



in the more central 

 disti-icts of Europe, 

 whence it ranges in 

 summer as far north 

 ;is latitude 70 in 

 Scandinavia, and to 

 about 64' on the 

 Obi river, in western 

 Siberia, which is 

 apparently near its 

 eastern limits ; in 

 winter, on the other 

 hand, it visits a large 

 portion of southern 

 Kurope, as well as 

 Turkestan to the 

 eastward. Through- 

 out the mainland of 

 the l^ritish Isles it is 

 a common resident 

 species ; but to the Orkneys, where it is recorded to have nested on 

 two occasions, it is known onl}' as a straggler. In Barra, in the Outer 

 Hebrides, it has been noticed only on two or three occasions. 



The habits, and likewise the eggs, of this familiar bird, are too 

 well known to need detailed mention. 



VKl.LUU llAMMhK. 



Cirl-Buntine Although presenting a marked resemblance to the 

 (Emberiza cirlus). >cll'^\^' hammer, the cock of the cirl-bunting (a 

 much more local species than the last) may be 

 recognised by the following features : — The fore part of the back is 

 deep chestnut streaked, with dark brown, and passing into greenish 

 olive on the loins ; the crown of the head and the nape are olive 

 streaked with black ; the space in front of the eye, the ear-coverts, 

 and the throat are black ; above and below each eye is a lemon- 



