62 EMBERIZID^. 



is rather of a retiring disposition, the cock only shewing 

 himself openly, while the hen must be sought to be seen. 

 The song has some resemblance to that of the Yellow 

 Hammer, but, though its first syllables have a strong 

 metallic ring, it is less loud and on the whole more plaintive. 

 The traveller in early summer in Norway, and probably the 

 same is true with regard to Sweden and Finland, sees the 

 Ortolan frequently by the roadside, sitting on the rough 

 fences of split deal, so characteristic of Scajidinavian agricul- 

 ture, which enclose every plot of cleared land, or occasionally 

 shifting its position to the roof of some log-hut ; and the 

 peasant of those countries trusts no bird so fully as a herald 

 of warm and settled weather. Thus its far from melodious 

 notes have a charm for him which dwellers in more temper- 

 ate climates can scarcely appreciate. From the whole of 

 Europe this bird retires as soon as the breeding-season is 

 over, its southward return beginning of course soonest in the 

 north, and when approaching the shores of the Mediterranean 

 it collects in large flocks. On both of its migratory journeys 

 it is eagerly sought by bird-catchers, and enormous num- 

 bers are netted and fattened for the table. It lends itself 

 easily to their designs, for it is caught without much trouble, 

 and seems to surpass all its congeners in the greediness 

 with which it devours the food, chiefly oats and millet, set 

 before it in captivity, until its body becomes coated with a 

 thick layer of fat, only interrupted by a narrow line along 

 the keel of the sternum. The flavour of the delicate morsel 

 it then presents is almost proverbial. Its natural diet con- 

 sists as much of insects — beetles of the family CurcuUonidce 

 especially— as of grain or other seeds. 



The adult male in summer has the bill reddish-brown, 

 the palatal knob small : the irides brown : head and nape 

 greenish-grey, sometimes the one and sometimes the other 

 tint prevailing, and occasionally streaked along the crown 

 with dusky-brown ; the orbits light yellow ; the featbers on 

 the back very dark brown along the shaft, but rufous on each 

 side passing into olive near the edge ; small upper wing- 

 coverts wood-brown with paler edges; primaries and second- 



