846 



The Sparrow-like Birds 



Asia as far east as Turkestan, though it is only a rare straggler to England. 

 With the upper parts brown streaked with darker, it has the lores, throat, and 

 a ring around the eye lemon-yellow, the fore breast greenish yellow, and the 

 remainder of the lower parts tawny chestnut. It is a rather tame, approachable 

 bird, frequenting, according to Mr. Dresser, "the outskirts of woods, bush- 

 covered meadows and fields, gardens when 

 they are near woods, fences, and bushes 

 on the roadsides, and I often saw it 

 sitting on barns and outbuildings, and 

 in its general habits reminding me much 

 of the Yellowhammer." It is a migratory 

 species in Europe, arriving in March and 

 April and returning in large flocks in Sep- 

 tember to spend the winter in northern 

 Africa. It is on their southern migration 

 that they are netted alive in large numbers, 

 and being kept away from the light of day 

 and fed on millet, oats, and other seeds, 



soon become excessively fat, and are then highly prized for the table, 

 song and nesting habits are similar to those of the Yellowhammer. 



Reed Bunting. The last species that space will permit of mentioning is 

 the Reed Bunting (E. schceniclus), which is widely spread throughout Europe 

 generally as far north as Lapland, and in Asia to Kamchatka and Japan on the 

 west and to Turkestan on the south, wintering in northern Africa and north- 

 western India. As suggested by its name, it is a frequenter of damp situations 

 such as reeds and willow and alder thickets along streams and marshes, and it 

 is a rather more graceful bird than many of its relatives. It has a loud, clear 

 call note, and a rather loud, persistent song which is rehearsed from the top 

 of a tall reed or the topmost branch of an alder tree. It nests in March or April, 

 placing the structure on or near the ground in damp places, and laying from 

 four to six or sometimes seven eggs, which are purplish clay-colored with purplish 

 brown spots and streaks. In coloration the upper parts are black, the feathers 

 being margined with ochraceous, the head, nape, and throat deep black, while 

 there is a white collar around the hind neck with a white throat stripe on each 

 side; the lower parts are white, striped on the flanks with dark brown. 



FlG. 233. Ortolan Bunting, Emberiza 

 hortulana. 



Its 



