164 BLACK-THROATED BUNTING. 



constantly heard these birds around me. In August they become 

 mute, and soon after, that is, towards the beginning of Septem- 

 ber, leave us altogether. 



The Black-throated Bunting is six inches and a half in length; 

 the upper part of the head is of a dusky greenish yellow; neck 

 dark ash; breast, inside shoulders of the wing, line over the 

 eye and at the lower angle of the bill yellow; chin, and space 

 between the bill and eye white; throat covered with a broad, 

 oblong, somewhat heart-shaped patch of black, bordered on 

 each side with white; back, rump and tail ferruginous, the first 

 streaked with black; wings deep dusky, edged with a light clay 

 colour; lesser coverts and whole shoulder of the wing bright 

 bay; belly and vent dull white; bill light blue, dusky above, 

 strong and powerful for breaking seeds; legs and feet brown; 

 iris of the eye hazel. The female differs from the male in hav- 

 ing little or no black on the breast, nor streak of yellow over 

 the eye; beneath the eye she has a dusky streak, running in the 

 direction of the jaw. In all those I opened the stomach was 

 filled with various seeds, gravel, eggs of insects, and sometimes 

 a slimy kind of earth or clay. 



This bird has been figured by Latham, Pennant, and several 

 others. The former speaks of a bird which he thinks is either 

 the same, or nearly resembling it, that resides in summer in the 

 country about Hudson's Bay, and is often seen associating in 

 flights with the geese;* this habit, however, makes me suspect 

 that it must be a different species; for while with us here the 

 Black-throated Bunting is never gregarious; but is almost al- 

 ways seen singly, or in pairs, or, at most, the individuals of one 

 family together. 



* LATH. Syn. Suppl. p. 158. 



