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EMBE 



of the neck, and becomes a spot there ; a yellowish 

 white line passes from the under angle of the bill 

 down each side of the neck to the middle, and is lost 

 behind the temples with that which passes by the 

 eyes ; the throat is black clouded with pale grey, like 

 the house-sparrow ; the rest of the under part of the 

 body is greyish white, speckled on the sides with dark 

 chestnut, but the under tail coverts are pure white ; 

 the sides of the neck and upper part are grey-olive, 

 spotted with black, the rump is also the same colour, 

 with a reddish tint ; the small wing-coverts are a fine 

 red, the others have only a wide border of that colour, 

 the rest being black. The quill-feathers are blackish, 

 edged with olive-grey, the last with red ; the forked 

 tail is black, the two outer feathers have a wedge- 

 shaped white spot, and the two middle ones are edged 

 with red. In the female there does not appear any 

 black on the top of the head, as in the male, and the 

 colours are in general lighter ; a reddish white streak 

 passes above the eyes, another descends down the 

 sides of the neck from the base of the beak, a third, 

 but of a dusky black, extends from each side of the 

 chin to beyond the middle of the neck ; the throat is 

 a dusky reddish white, the under part of the body the 

 same colour, but continues to become paler to the 

 under part of the tail ; the breast and sides are 

 streaked with a red brown ; the nape and back of the 

 neck are reddish grey ; the back is longitudinally 

 spotted with black and reddish grey. When kept in 

 the house the black disappears from the head of the 

 male, and the upper part of the neck changes to 

 greyish white, spotted lengthwise with dusky black. 



The favourite haunts of the sparrow-bunting are in 

 a mountainous country, where there are thick woods 

 and bushes. It is a bird of passage, which comes 

 some time in April and quits us in the latter end of 

 October or beginning of November. Its food is 

 grain of all kinds, and insects, when in the wild state ; 

 but in the house it is fed on the same food as the 

 reed bunting ; and resembles that bird very much in 

 its habits and song ; and may be taken with either the 

 net or birdlime. It is probable that this is only an 

 accidental variety ; and the same may be said of the 

 provincial bunting and some others which have been 

 named and described by authors. 

 . THE CIRL BUNTING (E. cirlus}. This species is 

 varied in colour above, and yellow beneath, and the 

 two outer tail leathers are marked with a white spot 

 wedge shaped. The cirl bunting is six inches and 

 a half in length. Is a native of Italy, France, and the 

 other warm countries of Europe, frequenting newly 

 ploughed fields, feeding on grains, insects, and worms, 

 which last it pulls out of the ground. Though not 

 uncommon in many parts of Cornwall and Devonshire, 

 it was first recognised as appertaining to the British 

 fauna by colonel Montagu, who met with it among 

 flocks of yellow buntings and chaffinches. It gene- 

 rally builds its nest in furze or on some low bush, and 

 is composed of dry stalks, roots, and a little moss, 

 and lined with long hair and fibrous roots. The eggs 

 are four or five in number, cinereous white, with 

 irregular long and short curved lines, frequently ter- 

 minated with a spot at one end. They pair in April, 

 and begin laying in the early part of May. At a 

 little distance the females might readily be mistaken 

 for the same sex of the yellow bunting, but are obvi- 

 ously different when closely compared. The note of 

 this species is also similar to that of the yellow bunt- 

 ing, but., shorter, less shrill, and the final part not 



RIZA. 



drawn out to such a length. The female has only a 

 gentle plaintive chirp. The principal food of the 

 young bird appears to be insects, especially grass- 

 hoppers ; /and they will likewise eat various seeds, 

 canary being a great favourite. They can be tamed 

 very easily, and will live six or seven years in con- 

 finement. 



The colours of the cirl bunting may be thus de- 

 scribed. In the male bird, the bill is bluish above 

 and pale on the under part ; the irides are hazel 

 brown ; a streak across the eye, and the throat 

 greenish black, with a bright yellow streak above and 

 a paler one below it ; gorget pale yellow ; the lowes 

 part of the breast and sides of the neck pale olive 

 green, with a soft tinge of grey, passing into pale 

 yellow on the belly, and again into mottled tints of 

 reddish or orange on the sides ; the centres of the 

 feathers on the head blackish, those on the scapulars 

 reddish orange, passing into blackish brown on the 

 back, and again into reddish brown on the rump ; the 

 darker ones margined with grey, the orange with 

 yellowish white, and the red with greyish white ; quills 

 greenish grey, with pale yellow margins ; the outer 

 feathers of the tail with white webs on the basal half, 

 other feathers blackish, margined with yellowish grey 

 the feet are brown, tinged with red. The top of the 

 head of the female is dull olive green ; the chin, 

 where the dusk is in the male, pale brown, with 

 darker streaks ; the flanks streaked with brown where 

 they are mottled with reddish orange in the male ; 

 the female is rather less, and the colours are in general 

 less pure and bright. 



As these birds fly much in company with the yel- 

 low buntings in winter, they might be looked for in 

 warmer places, a little farther to the north than they 

 have hitherto been found ; though, as they are in a 

 great measure corn-land birds in their habits, the 

 sheep walks on the southern heights may impede 

 their progress to the countries farther to the north, 

 and they cannot be expected on the mountains. 



THE ORTOLAN (E. hortulana}. This is a true 

 bunting, and considered as a luxury for the table ; it 

 is among the most celebrated of the whole. It is 

 necessary to be somewhat exact in the description of 

 this species (which, by the way, is rare as a British 

 one, and can be considered only as a straggler), 

 because not only the bird-catchers in those countries 

 where it is much in request, but even some naturalists, 

 are apt to confound it with other species. The true 

 ortolan has a wider breast and stronger beak than the 

 yellowhammer ; it is six inches and a half in length, 

 of which the tail measures two and a half ; the beak, 

 six lines long, is thick at the base, with a bony 

 tubercle at the palate, and is .of a yellowish flesh 

 colour ; the iris dark brown ; the legs, which stand 

 rather more than three quarters of an inch in height, 

 arc flesh-coloured ; the head and neck is greyish 

 olive ; the throat, and a streak on the neck, from the 

 angle of the beak, deep yellow ; the back and the 

 feathers of the scapulars chestnut brown, speckled 

 with black ; the rump of a dirty grey brown ; the 

 under part of the body reddish yellow, waved with 

 light brown ; the quill feathers are dark brown, with 

 a red border to some and a grey to others ; the tail 

 feathers dark, the two outer ones with a wedge- 

 shaped spot, the others with a red border. The female 

 is rather smaller than the male, of a changeable shining 

 ash-colour on its head, and its neck streaked with fine 

 black lines ; its breast, and the upper part of its body, 



