THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 373 



although, next to the Snow Bunting, it is the most abundant species 

 of the whole genus. No special method of capture is in use, and 

 neither its small body nor its alleged delicate flavour is con- 

 sidered equal to the value of a shot. 



The quiet, harmless mode of life of this bird also contributes 

 to the fact that it receives so little attention : during the spring 

 migration, from fifty to a hundred of these birds may be staying 

 in a plot of oats about six inches high without being noticed, 

 unless they happen to be accidentally disturbed. 



Hundreds of these birds visit the island on all fine warm days 

 in May, and from the middle of August to the end of September- 

 During the first-named month it frequents fields sown with oats 

 or barley, and during August and September the potato-fields. 



On one occasion I obtained an old male of this species, the 

 measurements of which were much below the normal In this 

 example the light yellow colour of the foreneck extended over 

 all the lower parts, only the sides of the upper breast displaying a 

 very faint tinge of rust-colour. I am unable to give a fuller descrip- 

 tion, or the measurements of this example, inasmuch as it is in the 

 possession of E. von Homeyer. 



The Ortolan is distributed as a breeding species over the whole of 

 Europe, though very unequally. In Scandinavia it is found nest- 

 ing as far as the Arctic Circle, while in England it is only of rare 

 occurrence. On the east it probably does not extend far beyond 

 Central Asia, though Sewertzoff mentions it as a breeding species as 

 far east as Turkestan. In the south, its nesting range extends 

 to Asia Minor and Palestine. 



175._Cretzsclimar's Bunting [GKAUER ORTOLAN]. 

 EMBERIZA C^ESIA, Cretzschmar. 



Emberiza ccesia. Naumann, xiii. ; Blasius, Nachtrage, 172. 



Cretzschmar's Bunting. Dresser, iv. 213. 



Bruant cendrillard. Temminck, Manuel, iii. 225. 



Twenty-five or thirty years ago, when the early summer in 

 Heligoland was still warm and fine, one or two examples of this 

 peculiarly coloured Bunting used to be seen, and in most cases shot, 

 nearly every May and June; in autumn I have never observed 

 the bird. About a dozen examples, for the most part fine males, 

 were obtained during May 1848, June 1852, May 1857, 1859, 1862, 

 1866, and 1867. In the course of the last twenty years, however, 

 it has been observed and shot on one occasion only. 



