PASSERKS. 



HEED-BUNTING. 



23 



EMBER1ZIDM. 



EMBERIZA SCHCENTCLUS, Linnaeus*. 

 THE REED-BUNTING. 



Ember iza schoeniclus. 



EMBERIZA, Linncp-us^, Bill hard, conical and short ; the upper mandible not 

 wider than the lower, the edges of both inflected and those of the latter sinuated ; 

 the palate generally furnished with a projecting bony knob. Nostrils oval, basal 

 and placed somewhat near the culmen, partly hidden by small feathers. Grape 

 angular. Wings moderate : first primary finely attenuated and so small as to seem 

 wanting ; second, third and fourth generally nearly equal, the fourth or fifth 

 commonly the longest in the wing and considerably longer than the next. Tail 

 rather long and slightly forked. Tarsus scutellate in front, covered at the sides 

 with an undivided plate forming a sharp ridge behind, almost as long as the middle 

 toe. Claws considerably curved, that of the hind toe of moderate length. 



THE REED-BUNTING, or Reed- Sparrow];, as it is most com- 

 monly called, is a well-known inhabitant of marshy places 



* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 311 (1766). f Tom. cit. p. 308. 



I The name of Black-headed Bunting, first applied to this species by Beilby 

 (who wrote the text of the first volume of Bewick's well -known work) and adopted 

 in former editions of these volumes, had already been appropriated by Latham to 

 a perfectly distinct species. As the latter has now to be included as a "British 

 P.'ml" there seems to be no choice left but to fall back upon the older and far 

 more generally used name of Reed-Bunting. 



