50 OETOLAN. 



I think, one way, although there may be exceptions to it. 



The food of this bird consists of grain and seeds, as also 

 of insects and their larvae, on which latter the young are 

 principally fed, as is the case with other birds of allied kinds. 



The monotonous note of this species is almost incessantly 

 repeated by the male bird during the pairing season. As a 

 cage bird, Bechstein describes its song as full and clear. 



The Ortolan Bunting begins to build early in May. 



The nest is placed in corn-fields, and adapted to some 

 hollow in the ground, or the latter possibly to it; Selby adds 

 thickets and low hedges as places of its nidification also. It 

 is formed of dry grass and small roots, thickly lined with 

 the finer portions of the latter; in some the inside is finished 

 with a few hairs. 



The eggs are four or five, sometimes, though rarely, six in 

 number: they vary much in markings. 



Male; length, six inches and a quarter; bill, reddish brown : 

 from its lower corner descends a short streak of yellow, between 

 which and the yellow of the chin is a narrow band of greenish 

 grey. Iris, brown; head on the crown and sides, greenish 

 grey, the shafts of the feathers dark coloured; neck on the 

 back, the same; nape, the same; chin, throat, and breast on 

 the upper part, yellowish green, the remainder of the latter 

 is reddish buff, the feathers tipped with greyish white; back 

 on the upper part, rich reddish brown, or yellowish brown, 

 with a tinge of green on the edges of the feathers, but almost 

 black in the middle; on the lower part it is reddish, or yel- 

 lowish brown. 



The wings have the first three feathers nearly equal in 

 length and the longest in the wing, the fourth nearly a quarter 

 of an inch shorter than the third; greater and lesser wing 

 coverts, dusky black, with broad rufous brown margins, which 

 at some seasons are yellowish white; primaries, dusky black, 

 narrowly edged with rufous brown, at some seasons with yel- 

 lowish white; secondaries, dusky black, also edged with rufous 

 brown; tertiaries, dusky black, with broad rufous brown 

 margins. Tail, dusky black, the centre feathers tinted with 

 reddish, and their margins paler; the two outer feathers on 

 each side with a patch of white on the inner web; upper tail 

 coverts, reddish or yellowish brown; under tail coverts, pale 

 reddish buff. Legs and toes, pale brown, with a tinge of 

 red: the hind claw is not much curved. 



The female is generally of a duller hue, and is also rather 



