128 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Phu, tf If. F. P!gt"t 



LINNET 



One of tkt man popular cage-birds. Tilt to-called Red-brown and Grey Linneli art but phases of plumage of the same sfrfits. The bird 



in the ~ight-hand corner it a greenfinch 



brown, whilst the white parts are less pure in tone. The full iln-ss of the male is rarely 

 seen in the British Islands, save in specimens procured from Scotland ; for in winter, when the 

 snow-bunting is chiefly captured, the plumage is altogether more rufous. 



Unlike the buntings so far described, the KKKD-WNTIM; is to be found only in marshy 

 places, but in suitable localities it may be found in the British Islands all the year round, being 

 as common a species as the corn-bunting, and therefore not calling for special description hrre. 



The eggs of the buntings are remarkable for the curious scribble-like markings which 

 cover them, and serve readily to distinguish them from those of any other British bird. 



CHAPTER XVI 



LARKS, TITMICE, HONEY-E.A'1'KRS, /\I) Til KIR A7.\ 



CONFINED almost entirely to the Old World, where they arc represented by more than 

 one hundred species, many of which have undergone considerable specialisation in the 

 matter of plumage, so as to enable them to live in desert regions, the I .AUKS constitute 

 a well-marked group, into the characters of which we need not enter here. 



The best-known member of the group is the SKVI.AUK. Common throughout the British 

 Islands, and of sober coloration, no bird is more universally beloved, and this largely on 

 account of the sweetness of its vug, which is second only to th.it of the nightingale. 1' 

 and prose-writers alike have sounded its praises, many in passages that will be remembered as 

 long as our language lasts. The skylark is one of the few birds which sing while mi the 

 wing; the peculiar nature of the (light at this time all must have watched, entrained tin- 

 while by the beauty of the 



