Thk Corx-Bl'xting 109 



forming its staple diet, varied in the summer by a few mealworms or cockroaches; 

 when wild it is said to eat grasshoppers; it also eats a little fruit. A caged 

 example is chiefly interesting for the show-bench ; consequently the unfortunate 

 specimen captured in Fifeshire seems to have had a busy life at the hands of his 

 owners. In an aviar}- this species would doubtless l)e more interesting, but it 

 would want watching at first, unless associated with birds as powerful as itself; 

 for some of the buntings are daugerousl}- sportive towards smaller and weaker birds. 



Family— FRINGILLID.-E. Suhfamily—EMBERIZIN.F. 



The Corn-Bunting. 



E)iiberiza miliaria, LiNN. 



IT would be useless to attempt to improve upon Seebohm's account of the 

 distribution of this species: — "Beyond the British Islands its range extends 



throughout Central and Southern Europe. It is only found in the extreme 

 south of Norwa}' and Sweden ; and east of the Baltic its northern limit appears 

 to be Riea. It it doubtful if it has ever occurred as far north as Moscow or the 

 Ural Mountains ; but it is very locally distributed in Southern Russia, where it 

 is a partial migrant. It is a resident in the Caucasus and Western Turkestan, 

 and there is an example in the museum at Omsk, said to have been obtained in 

 the neighbourhood. It is a resident in the Canaries and North-western Africa ; 

 but in Egypt and Arabia Petrsea it is only found during winter, whence it probably 

 migrates to Central Europe to breed. It is a resident in Palestine, Asia Minor, 

 and North Persia, as far south as Shiraz." (Hist. Brit. Birds, Vol. II, pp. 148-9). 



In Great Britain the Corn-Bunting is very local in its distribution, being 

 most abundant in well-cultivated grain-producing districts. In the south of England 

 it perhaps deserves its name of "Common Bunting," though it is by no means so 

 abundant as the Yellow Hammer, but northward it is rarer and far more local ; in 



Vol. H. F2 



