EMBE 



extremity. The feet, with three toes before and one 

 behind, all free. The resident species have their 

 claws short and hooked, and adapted for perching on 

 trees, and also on the culms and stems of those her- 

 baceous plants from which they pick the seeds. 

 This genus live chiefly upon seeds, and consume a 

 vast quantity, seeking them indiscriminately upon the 

 plants that produce them, or on the ground ; but they 

 likewise eat insects. The snow-bunting runs on the 

 ground, but doos not perch. It has the claw, as in 

 the larks, with the hinder toe produced, or rather in- 

 termediate between the larks and the other buntings. 

 This genus of birds have plenty of voice, but no 

 song ; and as their vegetable food is better seen in 

 clear light, during- the heat of the clay, they are always 

 active, and incessantly keep up a harsh and tuneless 

 clattering. The air of these birds is heavy, and they 

 are careless, and very easily snared by the fowler. In 

 the autumn they get very fat, and the flesh of some 

 of them is highly prized. The common bunting has 

 rather a sober plumage ; but the others are equally 

 remarkable for the richness of their tints and the 

 beauty of their contrasts. Their want of song pre- 

 vents them, however, from being sought after for the 

 cage, so that they are neglected, and persecuted as 

 creatures formed merely for destroying or being 

 destroyed. It is true, that where small seeds are 

 sown and cultivated, the buntings commit consider- 

 able ravages ; and they likewise consume a portion 

 of the corn, especially of any patches that get ripe 

 before other parts of the field'; but during the rest of 

 the year they are of considerable service in con- 

 suming the seeds of the larger weeds which grow in the 

 fields, such as corn-marigold, ragwort, and other pests 

 of thin and badly-cultivated soils, though they are not 

 very welcome visitants in the garden. When seed 

 time and harvest are blended together throughout 

 the year, and seeds are sown at all seasons, the wild 

 birds, which remain true to the seasons, while man 

 forces his cultivation against them, are in so far mis- 

 chievous ; but in places where there are only seasonal 

 crops, that is not so much the case. The time at 

 which the granivorous birds are undergoing their moult 

 is when the crops are or should be ripe ; and as the 

 smaller seeds are preferred by all the little birds to 

 grain, and of course stubble lands to those which have 

 standing crops, against the time that they congregate 

 in flocks there should be always stubble for them. 



THE YELLOW BUNTING (Emberiza citrinclla), Yel- 

 low Bunting, Yellow Hammer, or Yellow Yowley. 

 This species has the tail-feathers blackish, the 'two 

 outer ones on the inner webs marked with one acute 

 white spot. The weight of the yellow bunting is, in 

 ordinary, about seven drachms, the length six inches 

 three lines, and the extent of its wing nine inches two 

 lines. It is an inhabitant of Europe from its southern- 

 most point, at least as far north as Soudmor, and it is 

 likewise found in the west of Siberia. In this and 

 many other countries it is of very common occurrence. 

 Its song is as little attractive as that of the common 

 hunting, consisting merely in a repetition of the same 

 note five or six times, and terminating in a more 

 lengthened and shrill one. But, besides their native 

 note, it has two particular calls, the one that of rally- 

 ing, which it in common utters when flying, and 

 during summer on the approach of evening"; and the 

 other expressive of its uneasiness when alarmed or 

 offended, especially when any one goes near its nest 

 or little ones. Many of them are supposed to travel 



R I Z A. 415 



southward during the autumn ; but those which remain 

 congregate in winter, mingling with chaffinches, spar- 

 rows, and many other small birds, approaching houses 

 in the day time, or even towns, or frequenting high- 

 ways, picking up little grains, and extracting them 

 from horses' dung. This combination of different 

 species, intent on catering, only lasts during the day ; 

 for some hours before nightfall the family separate, 

 and retire to their respective haunts, the buntings pre- 

 viously perching on the tops of trees, from which they 

 do not descend till after sunset. The male, from this 

 elevation, pours forth his note in the season of love, 

 sometimes for hours together, remaining without 

 changing its position. During the spring and summer 

 months, they frequent hedges and copses, but very 

 seldom the interior of forests. They alight very sud- 

 denly from their flight, which is very rapid, and for 

 the most part amidst thick foliage. The female bunt- 

 ing does not breed till late in the spring, and yet has 

 two, and occasionally three, hatches in the course of 

 the season. The nest, which is large and flat, and 

 rather simply composed, is generally placed near 

 the ground, sometimes under a clod, but more fre- 

 quently in some low bush or hedge, and consists of 

 straw and various dried stalks, lined with fine grass 

 and long 'hair. The eggs vary in respect of colour 

 and size, some being nearly white, and others having 

 a purplish hue, but all more or less marked with hair- 

 like streaks, and terminating with a roundish speck ; 

 and their number varies from three to five. The 

 female incubates with such ardent attachment, that 

 she may frequently be caught by the hand. During 

 the short period she is absent in search of food, the 

 male takes her place in the nest. The young are fed 

 with small seeds and insects. These birds in captivity 

 will live for six or seven years, and even longer ; but 

 they are liable to epilepsy ; and their music is too 

 little engaging to repay the trouble of rearing them. 

 Where small birds are used for the table, as almost 

 every description of them are in Italy, the yellow 

 bunting is frequently fattened for the market. In 

 flavour it very much resembles the lark. 



The yellow hammer is one of the most common of 

 British birds, and it is also one of the most beautiful ; 

 but somehow or other it is not a favourite ; and, in 

 very many parts of the country, the boys seek its 

 destruction as a meritorious work. 



THE COMMON BUNTING, or CORN BUNTING (E. 

 miliaris), is more a bird of the cornfields and hedges, 

 and less of the copses than the yellow bunting ; and 

 is considered, perhaps unjustly, as a great enemy to 

 the farmer. This species is found throughout Europe 

 and the northern countries of Asia, is not distinguished 

 either for its song or the beauty of its colours, and has 

 not so good a title to be admitted into the house as 

 the preceding. It has a very similar plumage to that 

 of the skylark, but surpasses it in size, being seven 

 inches and a half in length, of which the tail measures 

 three. The beak, measuring six lines, is strong, yel- 

 lowish on the under part in the summer ; and grey 

 brown during the rest of the year ; the feet, which 

 stand six lines in height, the same. The general tint 

 of the plumage is pale, reddish grey on the upper part 

 of the body, and yellowish white on the under, 

 speckled like the lark's with blackish brown spots, 

 broader on the back and narrower on the belly. The 

 quill-feathers are dark-coloured, as also the tail-iea- 

 thers ; the outer ones have a wedge-shaped but indi- 

 stinct spot of white. 



