EMBERIZA. BUNTING. 439 



compressed, covered anteriorly with seven scutella, laterally 

 and posteriorly with two plates meeting at a very acute angle ; 

 toes covered above with long scutella, papillar beneath, the 



second and fourth nearly equal, 

 ^:^:<^y the third much longer, the first 



considerably shorter than the 

 third, which is united with the 

 fourth as far as the second joint ; 

 claws arched, compressed, acute, 

 ^'^- '^^^ indistinctly grooved on the sides. 



Plumage more or less blended, the feathers ovate or lanceo- 

 late, with a long slender plumule of from five to eight filaments. 

 Wings of ordinary length, semicordate, rounded, the quills 

 eighteen ; the second and third longest. Tail of moderate 

 length, or rather long, straight, more or less emarginate. 



M. Lesson remarks of the Buntings that they " live in the 

 woods, on seeds furnished with a pericarp, generally a horny 

 one ; they nestle in trees. The females have duller colours 

 than the males. M. Cuvier," he adds, " depicts them in a 

 word by saying that they are granivorous birds which possess 

 little prudence, and fall into all the snares that are set for 

 them."" The only correct character here given is that of the 

 colours of the females being duller, but it is common to all the 

 Deglubitores and many groups besides. The rest is trash. 

 Do the Corn Bunting and the Reed Bunting nestle in woods, 

 or even bushes I And as to their imprudence, they are not a 

 whit more easily caught than the Finches, Sparrows, Linnets, 

 or Larks. 



The distinction between this genus and Plectrophanes is 

 very slight, insomuch that the latter might with propriety be 

 considered merely a section of it. Species belonging to it 

 occur in all parts of the world. In Britain there are four : the 

 Corn Bunting, the Yellow Bunting, the Cirl Bunting, and the 

 Reed Bunting; to which, as a very rare straggler, may be 

 added the Ortolan. 



