ORDER PASSERES. 2^7 



to themselves. Another mode is, by confining them in cages, 

 which admit a little light only to the box containing the food. 

 In this state, the ortolan bunting is said to be one of the most 

 exquisite morsels known for the table. 



Of the Commanding Bunting (Emb. Guhernatrix) we in- 

 sert a figure {male) from the "Planches Coloriees" of 

 M. Temminck. A description of it will be seen in the text. 

 Its habits are unknown. 



Among the buntings, distinguished by an elongated claw 

 to the thumb (Plectbophanes, Meyer), we shall notice only 

 the snow buntings as it is found in the northern parts of 

 Great Britain, and is called in Scotland the snow flake. 

 These birds appear there in large flocks, at the commence- 

 ment of frost, and are feared by many as the harbingers of 

 hard weather ; they are about the size of the chaffinch, black 

 above, with a white rump, crown, and forehead. They nestle 

 in holes in rocks, and produce five white eggs, with dusky 

 spots. 



They are found in all the northern latitudes, as high as 

 navigators have penetrated ; nor is it at all apparent by 

 what means they find food in these inhospitable regions. 

 The higher the degree of latitude in which they are found, 

 the whiter, as it appears, becomes their plumage ; this ten- 

 dency, which we have had frequent occasion to notice, among 

 the mammalia, as well as in the present class, has led to the 

 conclusion that there are many varieties of this species. It 

 breeds in Greenland, visits this country in harvest, and 

 retires in spring. As the winter advances, it approaches the 

 corn-yards, and feeds with the sparrows and finches. In 

 Zetland it is called oat-fowl, from the preference which it 

 gives to that kind of grain. 



We now come to the extensive genus of the FEiNGiLLiE, all 

 of which agree in the following characters : — 



The bill is less thick than the head, straight-edged, conical, 



ft2 



