ORTOLAN BUNTING. 153 



EMBERIZA HORTULANA. 



ORTOLAN BUNTING. 



(PLATE 15.) 



Emberiza hortulanus, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 269 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 309 (17G6) ; 



et auctorum plurimorum Gmelin, Latham, Temminck, Bonaparte, Salvadori, 



Degland $ Gerbe, Dresser, Newtoti, &c. 

 Emberiza mrelbyensis, Sparrm. Mm. Carls, pi. 21 (1786). 

 Emberiza badensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 873 (1788). 

 Emberiza tunstalli, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 418 (1790). 

 Citrinella hortulana (Briss.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 142 (1829). 

 Emberiza pinguescens, Brehm, Vb'g. Deutschl. p. 295 (1831). 

 Emberiza buchanaui, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xiii. p. 957 (1844). 

 Ku.piza hortulana (Sriss.), Blyth, Cat, B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 129 (1849). 

 ( ; lyeyspina hortulana (Briss.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 128 (1850). 

 Kmberiza shah, Bonap. Consp. i. p. 465 (1850). 

 Hortulanus chlorocephalus, Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 4 (1856). 



As the Ortolan Bunting is imported alive into England in great numbers 

 every year, there can be no doubt that many of the examples captured in 

 this country are escaped birds. The first record of the Ortolan Bunting 

 in this country is that of a bird figured by Brown in 1776, in his 'Illus- 

 trations of Zoology/ which was taken alive in Marylebone Fields, and 

 is now in the Newcastle Museum. Another specimen, also in this 

 museum, was caught in May 1822 on board a vessel when oft' the York- 

 shire coast. This specimen was figured by Bewick, who also states that a 

 pair were seen about this date in a garden at Cherryburn, on the river 

 Tyiie. In November 1827 a male bird was obtained near Manchester, 

 and came into the possession of Yarrell. Since this date, upwards of a 

 score of Ortolan Buntings have been obtained in England, of which a 

 detailed account is unnecessary. In Scotland it is much rarer than in 

 England. Mr. Gray states that the first Scotch specimen of this bird was 

 procured in Caithness previous to 1836. In November 1863 two others 

 were obtained in Aberdeenshire, said to have been captured in a turnip-field 

 near the sea. This species does not yet appear to have been observed in 

 Ireland. 



The Ortolan Bunting is one of the many species of Palsearctic birds 

 which find the eastern limit of their distribution in Central Asia. In 

 Scandinavia the northern limit of its breeding-range extends to the Arctic 

 circle ; it has not been recorded from Archangel ; and in the Ural 

 Mountains it is not found further north than lat. 57, nor does it appear 

 to go further north in the Baltic Provinces. In Siberia, the eastern limit 

 of its range appears to be the valley of the Irtish, as far as its source in the 



