ORTOLAN BUNTING. 133 



exposed for sale in Castle Street, Aberdeen, at the weekly market. 

 These I secured for my collection, but the person who sold them 

 to me knew nothing of the species. He offered me my choice of 

 the lot for sixpence, and informed me that they had been captured 

 on the previous day in a turnip field near the sea-side. The birds 

 varied in size, the male being the larger of the two, weighing 

 seven drachms and three quarters, while the female weighed but 

 six drachms and a half. The _irides were brown. The bird- 

 catcher stated that they had commenced eating immediately after 

 being caught, and that during their day's confinement they fed 

 constantly." 



The Ortolan, when fattened for the table, has long been known 

 as a delicious morsel among French epicures. Its introduction to 

 this country, however, is comparatively a recent event. The first 

 London importer informed the Rev. E. S. Dixon, author of an 

 interesting volume, entitled the " Dovecote and the Aviary," that 

 for some years previous to 1850, he " used to get them one or two 

 at a time, and then sell them easily at a guinea each. We now, 

 (March, 1850) have them by hundreds, and fat them for the table, 

 but they are of little value, Is 6d each." At a guinea a-piece, 

 therefore, ortolans, each weighing but three ounces, would cost 

 the consumer about 5 12s the lb., and at the reduced rate 8s the 

 Ib. To those who cannot afford even sixpence an ounce for this 

 costly viand, I would recommend Sanderlings, on their first reach- 

 ing our shores in autumn. They are equally fat, and if pro- 

 perly cooked, will not disappoint any one choosing to make the 

 experiment. 



OBS. THE PAINTED BUNTING (Spiza ciris) has occurred once in 

 Scotland, a specimen having been procured in Banffshire, by Mr 

 Thomas Edward, who informed me of the circumstance about 

 three years ago. Stray examples of this species no doubt reach 

 this country by means of ships crossing the Atlantic. Audubon 

 remarks, in the first volume of his ' Ornithological Biography,' 

 that few vessels in his day left the port of New Orleans during 

 the summer months without taking some painted finches, and that 

 through this means they were probably transported to all parts of 

 Europe. " I have seen them," says Audubon, " offered for sale 

 in London and Paris, with the trifling difference in value in each 

 individual, which converted the sixpence paid for it at New 

 Orleans to three guineas in London." 



