EMBERIZIX.E. 



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THE ORTOLAN. 



Emberiza hortulana, Linnaaus. 



This Bunting was first described as a visitor to England from a 

 bird taken alive in Marylebone Fields, a little before 1776, and this 

 is now in the Museum of Newcastle-on-Tyne, as well as a specimen 

 caught on board a collier off the Yorkshire coast in May 1822. 

 In November 1827, a male was killed near Manchester. In Sussex 

 four or five examples have been taken in spring and autumn since 

 1841 ; and an immature bird was killed in the Scilly Islands early 

 in October 1851. Several have been captured near London since 

 1837, and from that time onwards such increasingly large numbers 

 of live Ortolans have been annually imported from the Continent 

 that occurrences in the home-counties are open to suspicion, as 

 escapes are notorious. One was killed on Lowestoft Denes in May 

 1859; an immature bird was shot from among some Linnets, at 

 Cley, Norfolk, on September 12th 1884, another on September 5th 

 1889, and a third on September 15th 1892; while at Easington, 

 Yorkshire, one was obtained on October nth 1889. In Scotland 

 two examples were obtained in November 1863 near Aberdeen, 

 while two males were shot on the Isle of May, on May 2nd and 5th 



