THE CIRL BUNTING. m 



Family FRINGILLID&. Subfamily EMBERIZIN&. 



THE CIRL BUNTING. 



Emberiza cirlus, LINN. 



THE range of the Cirl Bunting is more restricted than that of the other 

 European species as it does not extend into the northern parts of the 

 Continent. In Central and Southern Europe it is resident, but in Southern 

 Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, it seeks the mountains for breeding purposes. In 

 Belgium and Holland it is said to be rare. It has been found breeding in 

 Algeria, but appears to be chiefly a winter visitor to North-west Africa. 



Though resident in Great Britain and not rare, the Cirl Bunting is decidedly 

 local, being essentially a southern species. Formerly every work on British 

 Birds which was published, used to assert that this bird was found breeding 

 in all the southern counties from Cornwall to Sussex, being apparently absent 

 from Kent ; and even after Mr. Bidwell had recognised in my collection a clutch 

 of eggs of this species, which I had taken at Iwade, near Sheppy, on June 

 5th, 1877, as being unquestionably those of E. cirlus (a fact which I believe I 

 promptly recorded in the " Zoologist ") the same statement was repeated, until 

 the appearance of Howard Saunders' Manual in 1888. It has, however, been 

 found breeding as far northward as Yorkshire, but it is of accidental occurrence 

 at any season either in the midlands or the northern counties.* In Scotland 

 it has occurred as a chance straggler, but its recorded occurrence in Ireland 

 has been questioned. 



The adult male Cirl Bunting has the crown and nape olive-green, longitudinally 

 streaked with dull black ; the rump and upper tail-coverts olivaceous ; the sides 

 of the head blackish olive, with a lemon-yellow stripe above, and a second below 

 the eye, from the base of the beak to the neck ; the chin and throat to the sides 

 of the neck dull black, bounded by a half collar of lemon-yellow ; across the chest 

 is a greyish olive belt ; sides and flanks chestnut, narrowly streaked with black ; 

 remainder of under parts lemon-yellow : in other respects this species nearly 

 resembles the Yellow Bunting, the back, wings, and tail being very similar; the 



In the " Zoologist " for 1891, p. 353, Mr. E. A. Swainson records its occurrence in Cardiganshire, and 

 observes: "This species, which has in the last two years become rather common in parts of the adjoining 

 count}' of Brecon, where it was previously very rare, appears to be gradually extending its range westwards. 



