INTRODUCTION, 105 
of a group containing at least about thirty-seven species. They 
are all Old-World Birds, mainly mhabitants of Asia and Aus- 
tralia, though a few are African, as is the one which sometimes 
reaches our shores. 
That handsome familiar little Bird the Chaffinch (Fringilla 
Fig. 111. 

The Reed Bunting (Eimberiza scheniclus), 
celebs) is a type of avery large group of Birds called Finches, to 
which the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) also belongs, as 
likewise does the curious Crossbill (Lovia curvirostra), the Vir- 
ginia Nightingale (Cardinalis virginianus), and the luscious 
Ortolan or Green-headed Bunting (Emberiza hortulana), and the 
marsh-loving Reed Bunting (Linberiza scheniclus), but not 
