British Birds. 



THE ORTOLAN 



BUNTING. 



{Emberizn 



horUdnna). 



This species, which is easily distini;uished hy its red bill from 

 the two preceding species, is to be recognised by the absence of 

 stripes on the flanks, hy its cinnamon-coloured breast and oliye- 

 3'ellow throat. The hen bird is paler in colour and has dark 

 brown streaks on the fore-neck and lower throat. 



Considerinj,' the wide ranj^e of the Ortolan, it is strange that it has not been 

 noticed more often in the British Islands, but it is doubtless overlooked or mistaken 

 for one ot the allied species of Buntings. It must be considered a rare but regular 

 visitor to Great Britain. The species is spread over the greater part of Europe in 

 the summer, and extends in Asia as far as the valley of the Irtisch, and it winters in 

 Central Asia and probably in North-eastern Africa as well. Mr. Seebohm sa\s that 

 the Ortolan is not sh^- in its nature, and has much the same habits as our 

 Yellow Buntmg, sitting on the top of a tree and uttering a song like that of the 

 last-named bird, but without the curious ending which is characteristic of .1. 

 citi-iiiellii . The nest is built on the ground, and the eggs are from four to 

 si.x in number, differing in appearance from those of the other British Buntings, 

 and being most like those of the Reed Bunting, but clearer and paler in colour, 

 and having black spots instead of streaks and lines. 



The Siberian Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioidcs) has once been noticed in 

 England, a specimen having been obtained at Flamhorough, in Yorkshire, in October, 

 1887. It is a Siberian species, shewing no vellow on the under parts, with a chestnut 

 lower back and rump, and the crown of the head and ear-coverts chestnut in the male. 

 In the female the head is dark brown in the centre, with lateral bands of chestnut. 



The Corn Bunting (Miliaria miliaria). This species is very like a Lark in 

 appearance, being of a sober brown colour, with a tail longer than the wing, and the 

 inner secondary-quills so long that they nearly equal the primaries in length, as 



is the case with the Wagtails and Pipits. 

 Although somewhat local in its habitat, 

 the Corn Hunting is distributed over 

 the whole of the British Islands, It is 

 a species of the Western Pahearctic 

 Region, not breeding outside European 

 limits, nor e.\tending very far north, 

 but being found in winter as far 

 east as the Persian Gulf. In Great 

 Britain it is commonly observed in 

 summer, when it sits on some telegraph 

 wire bv the side of the road, or on the 

 top of a tree or hedge, and utters its 

 somewhat monotonous anil long- 

 drawn-out trill, which resembles that 



The Siberian Me.\do\v Buntinc;. 



