OSCINES 659 



hortulana of Linnaeus, a bird so celebrated for the delicate flavour of 

 its flesh as to have become proverbial, and to have given its name 

 to others, not all of them nearly related, which are supposed to be 

 as well-tasted. A native of most European countries the British 

 Islands (in which it occurs but rarely) excepted as well as of 

 western Asia, it emigrates in autumn presumably to the southward 

 of the Mediterranean, though its winter-quarters cannot be said to 

 be accurately known, and returns about the end of April or 

 beginning of May. Its distribution throughout its breeding-range 

 seems to be very local, and for this no reason can be assigned. It 

 was long ago said in France, and apparently with truth, to prefer 

 wine-growing districts ; but it certainly does not feed upon grapes, 

 and is found equally in countries where vineyards are unknown 

 reaching in Scandinavia even beyond the arctic circle and there it 

 generally frequents corn-fields and their neighbourhood. In appear- 

 ance and habits it much resembles its congener the YELLOW- 

 HAMMER, but wants the bright colouring of that species, its head 

 for instance being of a greenish-grey instead of a lively yellow. 

 The somewhat monotonous song of the cock is also much of the 

 same kind ; and, where the bird is a familiar object to the country 

 people, who usually associate its arrival with the return of fair 

 weather, they commonly apply various syllabic interpretations to 

 its notes, just as our boys do to those of the Yellow-hammer. The 

 nest is placed on or near the ground, but the eggs seldom shew the 

 hair-like markings so characteristic of those of most Emberizida 

 (BUNTING). Ortolans are netted alive in great numbers, kept from 

 the light of day, and fed with millet, oats and other seeds. In a 

 short time they become enormously fat, and are then killed for the 

 table. If, as is supposed, the Ortolan be the Miliaria of Yarro, the 

 practice of artificially fattening birds of this species is very ancient. 1 

 In Europe the " Beccafico " (FiG-EATER), whatever that may be, 

 shares with the Ortolan the highest honours of the dish, but the 

 former is not artificially fattened, and on this account is preferred 

 by some sensitive tastes to the latter. 



OSCINES, the third Order of Birds according to the arrange- 

 ment in 1840 of Keyserling and Blasius (Wirldth. Europ. 

 pp. xxxvi. and 80), consisting of forms which, among other less 

 important characters, are distinguished by the possession of true 

 song-muscles (cf. SYRINX and INTRODUCTION). 



1 In France the word is used so as to be almost synonymous with our " Bunt- 

 ing " ; but in some of the Antilles, where French is spoken, the Ortolan is a little 

 Ground-DovE of the genus Chamsepelia. In North America the name is one of 

 the many applied to the BOBOLINK, so justly celebrated for its excellent flavour, 

 as well as to the SORA or Carolina RAIL ; while by Anglo-Indians two species of 

 LARK (Calandrella brachydactyla and Pyrrhulauda grisea) are commonly called 

 Ortolans (Jerdon, B. Ind. ii. p. 373). 



