THE ORTOLAN BUNTING. 165 



The male frequently sings from the upper branch of a tree, or the 

 top of a bush, in the manner of the Yellow Bunting. His note is by 

 no means musical, being harsh, shrill, and very monotonous. He 

 continues in full song until the middle or end of August, when the 

 autumnal moult takes place. 



The food of this bird consists partly of caterpillars, beetles, and 

 other insects, but chiefly of seeds and berries; some old birds were 

 observed near Brading, in the Isle of Wight, to eat freely of the 

 berries of the woody nightshade. 



The summer plumage of the adult male is as follows : Back and 

 wings bright chesnut brown, the central part of each feather brownish 

 black; top of the head dark olive, streaked with black; a streak 

 above the eye, another beneath it, and a crescent-shaped patch on 

 the throat, bright lemon yellow; chin and upper part of throat black; 

 upper part of breast and sides yellowish red; lower part yellow; tail 

 feathers dusky black, the outer ones patched with white. Bill bluish 

 lead-colour; irides hazel; legs, toes, and claws light brown. The 

 winter plumage is less brilliant generally. The head of the female is 

 of a lighter colour, and she is without the bright lemon yellow above 

 and below the eye and on the throat. 



THE OETOLAN BUNTING, 



[Entberisa horlulana.} 



PLATE X. FIGURE VII. 



THE Ortolan Bunting is a common species in many parts of the 

 European continent, visiting Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and also 

 France, Spain, Italy, and Holland. Bat a few specimens have been 

 obtained in this country; the first which came under the notice of 

 British ornithologists was captured in Mary-la-bonne fields by a London 

 bird-catcher, and described by Brown in his "Illustrations of Zoology," 

 under the name of the Green-headed Bunting. Another was obtained 

 off the coast of Yorkshire by the master of a merchant vessel in the 

 month of May, 1822, and a third was killed near Manchester in 

 November, 1827. Another was taken near Norwich, another in tho 

 Scilly Isles, and another near Worthing, in Sussex. 



