526 AVES— YELLOW-HAMMER. ..ORTOLAN.. .BOB-O-LINK. 



THE EUROPEAN YELLOW-HAMMER. i 



It is larger than the sparrow. A greenish yellow, spotted with brown, is 

 the hue of its head ; the throat and belly are yellow ; the breast and sides, 

 under the wings, are mingled with red ; and the tail is of a flesh color. It 

 builds on the ground, feeds on insects and seeds ; and has a soft note, not 

 unlike that of the linnet. 



THE ORTOLAN 2 



Is somewhat less than the yellow-hammer. The plumage on the upper 

 parts is brownish chesnut, mixed with black ; the under parts are pale rufous. 

 These birds are common in France and Italy, but are not found in England. 

 They are caught in numbers to fatten for the table. This is done by includ- 

 ing them in a dark room, and feeding them with oats and millet. By this 

 process they become so fat that they would die from that cause alone, were 

 they not killed for sale. In this state they will sometimes weigh three oun- 

 ces, and are accounted the most luxurious repast of the epicure, being, as 

 it were, one lump of exquisite fat. 



THE BOB-O-LINK, OR RICE BUNTING, 3 



Called also reed bird in some of the southern states, and hitter bird in 

 Jamaica. He is seven and a half inches long. This is one of the most 

 common birds in the United States, and is familiar to every schoolboy from 

 the lively jingle of his note. The plumage of the male is an odd mixture 

 of white and black in the spring and early part of the summer — he changes 

 to a yellowish brown late in the season. The female is of a dusky brown. 

 In the eastern states the arrival of this bird is welcomed with pleasure, as 

 he is highly esteemed and his habits are comparatively harmless to the 

 crops. In the southern states he is more annoying to the husbandman and 

 the sportsmen of those parts, who show the rice birds no mercy, as his flesh 

 is excellent. They do great damage to the early wheat and barley in Virginia, 

 and eagerly devour young ears of Indian corn. They feed also on grubs, 



1 Emheriza citrinella, Lin. The genus Emberiza, or Bunting, has the hill short, coni- 

 cal, compressed, sharp edged : the upper mandible narrower than the under, the edges of 

 both bent inwards ; nostrils, basal, rounded, surmounted and partly covered by the feath- 

 ers of the forehead ; toes divided, the posterior with a short and bent claw ; tail forked 

 or slightly rounded. 



>t Emberiza hortulana, hif!. '^ Emberiza oryzivora, Wilson. 



