122 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



but rare varieties are barely distinguishable. Average of ICO 

 eggs, 21.1 x 16.1 mm. Breeding-season. Begins about mid-May, 

 occasionally early in May, and lasts till Aug. or even Sept. 

 Incubation. Lasts about 12-13 days (12| days, Raspail) ; by hen 

 only. Two broods. 



FOOD. Chiefly corn and seeds of grasses and weeds ; also insects 

 (orthoptera, small coleoptera, larvae of lepidoptera, etc.) ; young 

 fed with insects (orthoptera, lepidoptera, etc.). 



DISTRIBUTION England and Wales. Resident, but local, nesting 

 in Somerset and coastal counties from Cornwall to Kent, scarcer 

 Herts., Beds., Surrey, Berks., Bucks., Oxon, Wilts., Gloucester, 

 Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and many counties of Wales, but not 

 recorded nesting Pembroke, Carmarthen, Radnor, Merioneth, or 

 Anglesey. Nests very rarely Essex, Middlesex, and Yorks. 

 Elsewhere rare winter-straggler. Scotland. Rare vagrant. Four 

 or five. Ireland. Rare vagrant. One seen Donegal Aug. 2, 1902 

 (H. E. Howard, ZooL, 1902, p. 353). 



DISTRIBUTION. Abroad. Mediterranean countries generally : in 

 small numbers in south-west Germany (Rhine, Moselle, Saar), 

 generally distributed in France and locally common. The 

 Corsican race has been separated, but this requires confirmation. 



EMBERIZA HORTULANA 



48. Emberiza hortulana L. THE ORTOLAN BUNTING. 



EMBERIZA HORTULANA Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 177 (1758 



Europe. Restricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Emberiza hortulana Linnaeus, Yarrell, n, p. 57 ; Saunders, p. 213. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 5). Adult male. Winter. Crown and nape 

 greyish olive-green, faintly streaked darker ; back of neck uniform 

 greenish-brown ; mantle and scapulars boldly streaked black, with 

 chestnut-brown marks and pale brown fringes ; back, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts yellowish-brown, with dark shaft-streaks ; lores, orbital 

 ring, chin, and throat pale yellow or buffish -yellow ; ear-coverts, 

 distinct malar stripe, sides of neck, and upper-breast greyish olive- 

 green ; rest of under-parts buffish- or yellowish-chestnut ; axillaries 

 and under wing-coverts pale yellow ; tail black-brown, central pair 

 broadly fringed chestnut-brown, outermost pair with large diagonal 

 white band across both webs, penultimate pair with rather smaller 

 white mark on inner web ; primaries and secondaries brown-black, 

 with outer webs narrowly edged yellowish-brown and inner webs 

 greyish-white ; innermost secondaries broadly fringed chestnut- 

 brown ; greater coverts edged and tipped huffish-brown ; median 

 coverts tipped same ; lesser coverts tipped greyish-brown. This 

 plumage is acquired by complete moult in early autumn: 

 Summer. No moult, abrasion makes crown and especially nape 



