OTHER VARIETIES OF BRITISH BIRDS 147 



their appearance. I propose, therefore, to en- 

 deavour to explain as simply as possible how 

 they may readily be distinguished. Amongst 

 these are the buntings, warblers, tits, hawks, 

 and owls. 



Were the present work intended to be one on 

 natural history, I should have placed the various 

 animals and birds in their proper order ; but, as I 

 have remarked in my preface, although I am 

 anxious to avoid posing as a naturalist, I am 

 no less desirous to attract the attention of the 

 reader to a few of our commoner British animals, 

 birds, etc., so that he may, if unacquainted with 

 them, learn to recognize them in the course of his 

 daily walks, and also, I trust, learn to love them. 

 Any stereotyped plan of arrangement would 

 savour too much of an ordinary work on natural 

 history ; I have therefore, in order to excite 

 additional interest, broken up the subject as much 

 as possible. 



As regards the buntings, no fewer than eleven 

 varieties are included in the list of British birds, 

 viz. : 



The black-headed bunting (three occurrences 

 only). 



The corn bunting (resident). 



The yellow bunting, or yellow-hammer (resi- 

 dent). 



The cirl bunting (resident in the South of 

 England). 



Brandt's Siberian bunting (one occurrence). 



