EMB 



EMB 



many its notes are particularly admired. 

 It sometimes builds on low hedges, and 

 occasionally on the ground, and generally 

 breeds twice a year. E. citrinella, or the 

 yellow hammer, is extremely common in 

 Great Britain, where it lays its eggs on 

 the ground, or in some low bush, con- 

 structing it with little art ; it possesses no 

 interesting musical tones, and is tame and 

 stupid in its character ; it feeds on grain 

 and in.sects, and is to be found in almost 

 every country in Europe; its flesh in 

 England is generally bitter, but in Italy 

 the yellow hammer is fattened like the 

 ortolan for the table, and is in considerable 

 estimation. E. miliaria, the common bunt- 

 ing. These birds are also particularly 

 common in England, and appear fre- 

 quently in vast flocks, especially in the 

 winter, during which they are caught in 

 nets, or shot in vast numbers, and sold 

 to many under the successful pretence 

 of their being a species of larks. They 

 are stationary in England, but on the con- 

 tinent are birds of passage. During the 

 incubation of the female, the male is ob- 

 served frequently on the bare and promi- 

 nent branch of some neighbouring tree, 

 exerting himself vo cheer her confinement 

 by his song, which, however, is harsh and 

 monotonous in the extreme ; at short in- 

 tervals he utters a sort of trembling 

 shriek, several times repeated. E. or zi- 

 Tora,or the rice bird, is peculiar to Ame- 

 rica, where its depredations on the rice 

 and maize subject it to the peculiar aver- 

 sion of the farmer. They are occasion- 

 ally kept for the sake of their music. 

 They frequent the shores of rivers in the 

 eastern and northern states, during the 

 autumn, in immense flocks, feeding on 

 the seeds of wild rice, or reeds, as they 

 are called in Pennsylvania (Zizania clavu- 

 losa). They are then shot in great num- 

 bers for the market, are extremely fat 

 and delicious, not inferior to the ortolan. 

 During the season of their loves, the co- 

 lour of the male differs very considerably 

 from that of the female, but gradually as- 

 similates with it, until, in the autumn, 

 they are almost undistinguishable from 

 each other by colour. Their brumal re- 

 treat is unknown. It is, however, far to 

 the south, and perhaps without the boun- 

 daries of the United States. For the cirl 

 bunting, see Aves, Plate VI. fig. 4. For 

 the black-head bunting, see Aves, Plate 

 VT. fig. 5. 



EMBEZZLEMENT, in law, by stat. 

 39 Geo. 3. c. 35. for protecting masters 

 against embezzlement by their clerks 

 and servants : servants or clerks, or per- 



sons employed for the purpose, or in the 

 capacity of servants or clerks, who shall, 

 by virtue of such employment, receive, 

 or take into their possession, any money, 

 goods, bond, bill, note, banker's draft, or 

 other valuable security or effects, for or in 

 the name, or on the account of, their mas- 

 ter or employer ; or who shall fraudently 

 embezzlCj secrete, or make away with 

 the same, or any part thereof; every 

 such offender shall be deemed to have 

 feloniously stolen the same from his mas- 

 ter or employer, for whose use, or on 

 whose account, the same was delivered to 

 or taken into the possession of such ser- 

 vant, clerk, or other person so employed, 

 although such money, goods, bond, bill, 

 note, banker's draft, or other valuable 

 security, was or were no otherwise re- 

 ceived into the possession of his or their 

 servants, clerk, or other person so em- 

 ployed; and every such offender, his 

 adviser, procurer, aider, or abetter, being 

 thereof lawfully convicted or attainted, 

 shall be liable to be transported beyond 

 seas. 



EMBLEM, a kind of painted enigma, 

 or certain figures painted or cut meta- 

 phorically, expressing some action, with 

 reflections underneath, which, in some 

 measure, explain the sense of the device, 

 and at the same time instruct us in some 

 moral truth, or other matter of know- 

 ledge. The emblem is somewhat plain- 

 er than the enigma, and the invention is 

 more modern, it being entirely unknown 

 to the ancients. 



EMBLEMENTS, in law, signify the 

 profits of land sown ; but the word is 

 sometimes used more largely, for any 

 profits that arise and grow naturally from 

 the ground, as grass, fruit, hemp, flax, 

 &c. 



EMBOL1SMIC, or intercalary, a term 

 used by chronologists in speaking of the 

 additional months and years which they 

 insert, to bring the lunar to the solar year. 

 Since the common lunar year consists of 

 twelve synodic months, or 354 days near- 

 ly, and the solar consists of 365 days 

 (throwing away the odd hours and mi- 

 nutes; it is plain that the solar year will 

 exceed the lunar by about 11 days; and, 

 consequently, in the space of about 33 

 years, the beginning of the lunar year 

 will be carried through " all the seasons, 

 and hence it is called the moveable lunar 

 year. This form of the year is used at 

 this time by the Turks and Arabians; 

 and because in three year's time the so- 

 lar year exceeds the lunar by 33 days, 

 therefore, to keep the lunar months in 



