122 A PBACTICAL HAJfDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



but rare varieties are barely distinguishable. Average of '100 

 eggs, 21.1 X 16.1 mm. Breeding -season.- — Begins about mid-May. 

 occasionally early in May, and lasts till Aug. or even Sept. 

 Incubation. — Lasts about 12-13 days (12| days, Raspail) ; by hen 

 only. Two broods. 



Food. — Chiefly com and seeds of grasses and weeds ; also insects 

 (orthoptera, small coleoptera, larvas of lepidoptera, etc.) ; young 

 fed with insects (orthoptera, lepidoptera, etc.). 



Distribution ■ — England and Wales. — Resident, but local, nesting 

 in Somerset and coastal counties from Cornwall to Kent, scarcer 

 Herts., Beds., Surrey, Berks., Bucks., Oxon, Wilts., Gloucester, 

 Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and many counties of Wales, but not 

 recorded nesting Pembroke, Carmarthen, Radnor, Merioneth, or 

 Anglesey. Nests very rarely Essex, Middlesex, and Yorks. 

 ElscA^here rare winter-straggler. Scotland. — Rare vagrant. Four 

 or five. Ireland.— B.Bive vagrant. One seen Donegal Aug. 2, 1902 

 (H. E. Howard, Zool., 1902, p. 353). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Mediterranean countries generally : in 

 small numbers in south-west Germany (Rhine, Moselle, Saar), 

 generally distributed in France and locally common. The 

 Corsican race has been separated, but this requires confirmation. 



EMBERIZA HORTULANA 



48. Emberiza hortulana L.— THE ORTOLAN BUNTING. 



Emberiza Hortulana Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 177 (1758 — 



Europe. Restricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Emberiza hortulana Linnaeus, Yarrell, 11, p. 57 ; Saunders, p. 213. 



Description (Plate 5). — Adult male. Winter. — Crown and nape 

 grepsh olive-green, faintly streaked darker ; back of neck uniform 

 greenish-browai ; mantle and scapulars boldly streaked black, with 

 chestnut -brown marks and pale brown fringes ; back, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts yellowish-brown, with dark shaft-streaks ; lores, orbital 

 ring, chin, and throat pale yellow or buffish-yellow ; ear-coverts, 

 distinct malar stripe, sides of neck, and upper-breast greyish olive- 

 green ; rest of under-parts buffish- or yelloAvish-chestnut ; axillaries 

 and imder wing-coverts pale yellow ; tail black-bro^n, central pair 

 broadly fringed chestnut-brown, outermost pair with large diagonal 

 white band across both webs, penultimate pair with rather smaller 

 white mark on inner web ; primaries and secondaries brown-black, 

 with outer m ebs naiTO\^"ly edged yelloA\ish-broM n and inner a\ ebs 

 greyish-white ; innermost secondaries broadly fringed chestnut- 

 brown ; greater coverts edged and tipped buflfish-brown ; median 

 coverts tipped same ; lesser coverts tipped greyish-brown. This 

 plumage is acquired by complete moult in early autumn. 

 Summer. — No moult, abrasion makes crown and especially nape 



