emp.lrizix/h:. 



199 



THE CORX-BUXTIXG. 



E.MBERIZA .MILIARIA, LinnKUS. 



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 w^here 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 on the 

 Shetlands, although not yet obtained in the Freroes. 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 Con- 

 tinent. 



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, 

 though in winter it is partially migratory in the northern and 

 central districts. In the Spanish Peninsula and other great corn- 

 producing countries of the south, as well as in North Africa and the 

 Canaries, it is resident and extremely numerous ; it is also found in 



