314 REED BUNTING. 



the whole of our islands, extending to the 

 extremity of the mainland. It is also general on 

 the Continent, particularly the low-lying por- 

 tions, but it has not been noticed as an extra 

 European bird. 



This bird Mr Svvainson considers typical of 

 Emberiza,) placing our other species with the 

 Common Bunting, as Miliaria. In the wood-cut 

 preceding our characters, we have given the wings 

 of the present species, and E. citrinella, between 

 which little difference will be perceived. The 

 characters given are, in Emberiza, " first quill 

 shorter than the four next, which are longest ;" 

 in Miliaria, " three first quills the longest, and 

 nearly equal in length." In the latter, the bill is 

 much stronger, and the knob very prominent. 

 In Mr Swainson's Emberiza, the palatal knob is 

 nearly obsolete. See fig. 5. 



In summer or breeding plumage, the male of 

 the Reed Bunting is a clean and distinctly marked 

 bird. The head, cheeks, and throat, are deep 

 black, contrasting beautifully with the pure collar 

 of white which surrounds the back part of the 

 neck and cheeks, running in a line below the 

 auricular feathers to the base of the maxilla. The 

 back is deep brownish black, having the feathers 

 broadly edged with chestnut. The lower part of 

 the back and rump has the centre of the feathers 

 of the same dark tint, edged with gray, but the 

 dark stripe is so narrow as to allow the real 

 collar to appear almost entirely of the latter tint. 

 Quills are brownish black, narrowly edged with 



