THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 3G9 



Altai has visited Heligoland twice, and^. aureola from upper Siberia 

 on no less than three occasions. 



169. Common Bunting [Geestenammer]. 

 EMBERIZA MILIARIA, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Dikke-Dieit = r/M'cfc or Fat Beast, 



Emberiza miliaria. Naumann, iv. 213. 



Common Bunting. Dresser, iv. 163. 



Bruant proijcr. Temminck, Manuel, i. 306, iii. 219. 



The short plump figure of this bird probably has given rise to 

 the above-noted not very flattering Heligolandish designation. Its 

 appearance is rendered still more striking, and acquires a kind of 

 bull- dog character, if, as I have done, one mounts it side by side 

 with its pretty little cousin, the tiny Little Bunting (Emberiza 

 piisilla). 



As a rule this bird visits Heligoland in small numbers only, a 

 few scattered examples — at most two or three in one day — being seen 

 occasionally during March and again in November. The year 

 1S83 was a striking exception to this rule, the bird having occurred 

 on the 2nd, 7th, and 8th of November in companies of from ten to 

 fifteen and twenty individuals, without its being possible to adduce 

 any special cause for this phenomenon, which, moreover, extended 

 to the return journey of the following spring — ' very many Common 

 Buntings daily' having been noted in my journal durmg the last 

 days of March. 



The breeding home of this Bunting extends from Portugal to 

 Central Asia. Sewertzoff mentions it as a breeding species and bird 

 of passage even in Turkestan. Its range does not however extend 

 very far north, the bird being of rare occurrence in lower Norway, 

 though somewhat more numerous in lower Sweden. In England 

 and Scotland, including the Hebrides, it is very abundant. It is 

 resident in specially large numbers in Spain and Portugal, and 

 found as a common breeding bii'd even on the Canary Islands. 



The migration of this Bunting must adhere very rigidly to a 

 north-to-south line of flight, because the least inclination for an 

 east-to-west course would convey the numerous residents of this 

 species in England, Holstein and Denmark in far greater numbers 

 to Hehgoland than is actually the case. 



2a 



