THE CORN-BUNTING. I0 3 



states that it breeds in Corfu, frequenting brushwood on the hill sides, and has 

 an agreeable song." According to Seebohm this song consists of only " two or 

 three slight variations of a not very loud nor yet very melodious note, rapidly 

 repeated, with a slight pause in the middle. The ordinary call-note is a loud chit, 

 chit, and the call-note of one sex to the other a more plaintive and longer con- 

 tinued tsce-a." Howard Saunders says : " The call-note of the male is a vibrating 

 monotonous chiririri" 



As a captive, little pleasure can be derived from keeping the Black-headed 

 Bunting in a cage ; doubtless its feeding is simple enough, millet and canary 

 forming its staple diet, varied in the summer by a few mealworms or cockroaches ; 

 when wild it is said to eat grasshoppers ; it also eats a little fruit. A caged 

 example is chiefly interesting for the show-bench ; consequently the unfortunate 

 specimen captured in Fifeshire seems to have had a busy life at the hands of his 

 owners. In an aviary this species would doubtless be more interesting, but it would 

 want watching at first, unless associated with birds as powerful as itself; for some 

 of the Buntings are dangerously sportive towards smaller and weaker birds. 



Family FRINGILLIDsE. Subfamily EMBERIZINsE. 



THE CORN-BUNTING. 



Eviberiza iniliaria, L,INN. 



IT would be useless to attempt to improve upon Seebohm's account of the 

 distribution of this species : " Beyond the British Islands its range extends 

 throughout Central and Southern Europe. It is only found in the extreme south 

 of Norway and Sweden ; and east of the Baltic its northern limit appears to be 

 Riga. It is doubtful if it has ever occurred as far north as Moscow or the Ural 

 Mountains ; but it is very locally distributed in Southern Russia, where it is a 



