350 THE COMMON BUNTING. 



About the end of autumn, all the young birds have been fully fledged, and instead of 

 haunting the hedge-rows, they assemble in considerable flocks, and visit the fields in search of 

 food. In the winter, should the weather be severe, they become very bold, and joining the 

 sparrows, and other little birds, enter the farm-yards and cultivated grounds, and endeavor to 

 pick up a subsistence. When food is plentiful, the Yellow Ammer becomes very fat, and in 

 some instances is killed for the table, being thought nearly as good as the celebrated ortolan, 

 to which bird it is closely allied. 



The reader may probably have remarked, that I have called the bird Yellow Ammer, and 

 not Yellow Hammer, as is mostly the case. The correction is due to Mr. YaiTell, who weU 

 observes that, ' ' I have ventured to restore to this bird what I believe to have been its first 

 English name, Yellow Ammer, although it appears to have been printed Yellow Ham and 

 Yellow Hammer from the days of Drs. William Turner and Merrett to the present time. The 

 word Ammer is a well-known German term for Bunting in very common use. Thus Bechstein 

 employs the names Schnee-ammer, Grau-ammer, Rohr-ammer, Garten-ammer, and Gold- 

 ammer, for the Snow Bunting, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Ortolan or Garden Bunting, and 

 Yellow Bunting. Prefixing the letter H to the word apj)ears to be unnecessary and even 

 erroneous, as suggesting a notion which has no reference to any known habit or quality in 

 the bird." 



The general color of this bird is bright yellow, variegated with patches of dark brown, and 

 having a richly mottled brownish-yellow on the back, with a decided warm ruddy tinge. The 

 primary feathers of the Aving are black, edged with yellow, and the remainder of the feathers 

 throughout, with all the wing-coverts, are deep brown-black, edged with ruddy brown. The 

 chin, throat, and all the under parts of the body are bright, pure yellow, sobering into rusty- 

 brown on the flanks. The female is similarly marked, but is not so brilliant in her hues. 

 The total length of the bird is about seven inches. 



The Ortolan, or Garden Bunting, is vsddely celebrated for the delicacy of its flesh, or 

 rather for that of its fat ; the fat of the Ortolan being somewhat analogous to the green fat of 

 the turtle, in the opinion of gounnands. 



The Ortolan is most frequently found on the European continent, where its advent is 

 expected witli great anxiety, and vast numbers are annually captured for the table. These 

 birds are not killed at once, as they would not be in proper condition, but they are placed in a 

 dark room, so as to prevent them from moving about, and are fed largely with oats and millet, 

 until they become mere lumps of fat, weighing nearly three ounces, and are then killed and 

 sent to table. The net and decoy-bird are the means that are generally employed for their 

 ca^jture. 



The nest of the Ortolan is placed on the ground, generally among corn, and upon a sandy 

 soil, where some slight defence helps to conceal the nest, and to afford a partial shelter from 

 the wind. The materials of which it is made are grasses of different degrees of fineness, and 

 a few hairs which are placed in the interior. Tlie num'Der of eggs is five or six, and their color 

 is pale bluish-white, covered with spots of black. The nest is generally begun in the early 

 part of May. The Ortolan has no real song, its voice being limited to a few monotonous 

 chirping notes. 



The coloring of this bird is as follows : The head is gray with a green tinge, and the back 

 is ruddy brown, l^eautifully mottled with black. The wings are black, with brown edges to 

 the feathers ; the chin, throat, and upper portions of the breast are greenish-yellow ; and the 

 abdomen is warm buff. The total length of the Ortolan is rather more than six inches. 



As the Common Bunting is not so brilliant a bird as the Yellow Bunting, it is less 

 noticed, though quite as plentiful. 



It is a thick-set and heavily made bird, not being possessed of the elegant shape which is 

 found in its yellow relative. During the spring and summer, the Bunting is generally found 

 in the corn-fields, from which habit it is sometimes termed the Corn Bunting, and is but seldom 

 seen among trees, or on open pasture-lands. Its food chiefly consists of various grass seeds, 



