188 



EMBERIZIN^E. EMBERIZA. 



The Corn Bunting is generally distributed, permanently re- 

 sident ; frequents open pastures, grass and corn fields ; perches 

 on tall herbaceous plants, bushes, or trees, the male there 

 chanting his singular song, which is a hurried repetition of 

 short unharmonious notes, terminated by a protracted one. 

 It feeds on seeds of grasses, polygona, rumices, cereal plants, 

 and coleopterous insects, in winter becomes extremely fat, 

 and as an article of food is equal to the Lark. At this season 

 it generally forms flocks, which break up about the middle of 

 spring. The nest, composed of dry stalks and blades of grass, 

 with a lining of fibrous roots and hair, is placed on the ground 

 among grass or herbage. The eggs are four or five, ten and a 

 half twelfths long, nearly eight-twelfths in breadth, greyish- 

 white, patched and spotted with pale greyish-purple, and 

 marked with spots, dots, and curved lines of blackish-brown. 



Bunting. Common Bunting, Sparrow. 



Emberiza Miliaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 308. Emberiza 

 Miliaria, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 306. Emberiza Miliaria, 

 Corn Bunting, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 440. 



114. EMBERIZA CITRINELLA. YELLOW BUNTING. 



Back and wings bright red, the central part of each feather 

 brownish-black. Male with the head and throat bright yel- 

 low, the feathers of its upper part tipped with black, the breast 

 brownish-red. Female with the yellow of the head obscured 

 by dusky and brown, the breast pale greyish-brown. Young 

 dull yellowish-brown, streaked with black above, yellowish- 

 grey beneath, the breast and sides streaked with brown. 



Male, 7J, 11, 3, &, T y , -^ T V Female, 6H, 10f. 



This species is very widely distributed, being in most of the 

 cultivated and wooded districts of Britain and Ireland a very 

 common and familiar bird, and a permanent resident. In au- 

 tumn it forms large straggling flocks, which through the win- 

 ter often mingle with Chaffinches, Green Linnets, Sparrows, 

 and other species, in open weather resorting to the fields, and 

 perching at intervals in the hedges and bushes, as well as on 

 trees. When the ground is covered with snow, they congre- 

 gate about houses, and frequent corn-yards. Their flight is 

 undulated, light, strong, and graceful, and they alight abruptly, 

 jerking out their tail-feathers. In spring and summer the male 

 chants a doleful sort of ditty, composed of a few short shrill 

 notes, concluding with a protracted one. Their food consists 

 of seeds of cereal plants, especially oats, grasses, chickweeds, 

 polygona, and others. The nest, composed of coarse grasses 



