THE BUNTINGS 



[ORDER : Passer if ormes. FAMILY : Fringillidce. SUBFAMILY : fringillince] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOTJRDAIN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



CORN-BUNTING [Emberiza caldndra, Linnaeus [E. milidria, L.]. 

 Bunting-lark, grass-bunting, horse- or clod-lark, Ebb. French, prayer ; 

 German, Gerstenammer, Grauammer ; Italian, strillozzo], 



1. Description. Not unlike the skylark in its general appearance, but at 

 once distinguished from this species by its thick " bunting-like " beak armed with 

 a palatal knob, the short claw on the hind toe, the shortness of the innermost 

 secondaries, and the absence of a crest. (PI. ISA.) The upper parts are ochreous, 

 relieved by dusky brown streaks running along the shafts of the feathers, while 

 the under parts are buffish white, streaked on the throat, fore-breast (prepectus), 

 and flank with dusky brown. The median wing-coverts are of a dark sepia, 

 terminating in broad crescentic bands of ochre-yellow, forming a conspicuous bar. 

 The tail feathers are dark brown, indistinctly edged with paler brown. Length 

 7 in. [178 mm.]. Sexes alike, but female slightly smaller. In autumn and whiter 

 plumage they are distinctly yellower, both on the upper and under parts. The 

 young, before the first moult, resemble the parents in the autumn plumage, but 

 differ in having the striations on the crown much broader, the neck spotted 

 rather than striated, and the feathers of the mantle dark sepia, with very 

 narrow margins of yellow-ochre, while the throat has a distinctly rufous tint. 

 The innermost secondaries have very broad margins of bright ochre-yellow, and 

 the tail feathers are similarly fringed, [w. p. P.] 



2. Distribution. This bird is distributed over practically all the West 

 Palsearctic region, with the exception of North Scandinavia and Russia. In the 

 British Isles it is rather local, and is generally most numerous near the coasts, 



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