EMBERIZIN.^.. 



:o7 



C"^ K' ^ K 



THE CORN-BUNTING. 



Emberiza miliaria, Linnaeus. 



This species is frequently called the Bunting-Lark, and by many 

 authors it has been styled the Common Bunting ; but the use of the 

 latter name is hardly to be encouraged, as the bird, although widely 

 distributed throughout the British Islands, is decidedly local and 

 not nearly so common as the Yellow Bunting. It is principally to 

 be found where grain of some kind is grown, and when arable land 

 is turned into grazing-ground the Corn-Bunting becomes scarce, or 

 even disappears. Low lands and the vicinity of the sea are the 

 districts most affected in Scotland and its islands, where it ranges as 

 far west as St. Kilda ; while northward it is found breeding freely on 

 the Shetlands, even on Foula, the remotest. In Ireland it is 

 common in suitable districts, but local In autumn our home-bred 

 birds become gregarious, and to a certain extent migrants ; at the 

 same time considerable accessions are made to their numbers, 

 especially on our east coasts, by visitors from the Continent. 



In Scandinavia the Corn-Bunting is only known in the extreme 

 south ; but from Denmark and the hither side of the Baltic it is 

 generally distributed over the open portions of Europe in summer, 

 while partially migratory in winter from the northern and central 

 districts. In the Spanish Peninsula and other grain-producing coun- 

 tries of the south, as well as in North Africa and the Canaries, it is 

 resident and extremely numerous ; it is also found in Palestine, Asia 

 Minor, Persia and Western Turkestan ; and in winter as far south as 



