134 BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 



yellow. Length six inches and a half; from carpus to tip three inches 

 and three quarters; tail three inches; beak from gape seven tenths of an 

 inch; tarsus nine tenths of an inch. 



The Buntings are a very natural group, and easily distinguished, 

 by their peculiar characters, from the rest of the family. They live 

 in fields, woods, gardens, road-sides, or banks of rivers and marshes. 

 They feed upon farinaceous seeds and insects. The sexes are always 

 distinctly marked, the males having the most vivid coloration. _, The 

 young resemble the females, except in having duller colours, and 

 being more spotted. Temminck says none of the European species 

 moult more than once, while the exotic species do so regularly, the 

 colours of the male changing considerably, having in summer very 

 brilliant colours, but in winter the quiet and modest plumage of the 

 female. Degland remarks, — "The greater number, independently of 

 the usual moult which, takes place towards the end of summer, have 

 also in spring a change in coloration. This change is occasioned by 

 the under part of the plumage, which is always the most brilliantly 

 coloured, being in the spring uncovered by the rubbing away of the 

 edges of the feathers, which are of a duller tint." The Buntings 

 nest on the ground, on banks, or among grass, in bushes, shrubs, or 

 reeds. Those species which have the hind toe long and straight have 

 been separated by Meyer, under the generic term Plectrophanes. 

 The others form a very closely-allied and distinct family, notwith- 

 standing which Kaup has divided the genus into eight. 



Of the European species different authors vary in the numbers 

 which they assign to that fauna. Temminck, in the last edition of 

 his "Manual," describes sixteen species, which is the number also 

 given by Schlegel. Degland adopts this list, with the exception of 

 one addition, E. borealis. Bonaparte gives nineteen species, in five 

 different genera. Gray, "Hand List," gives sixteen species. Of these, 

 five, and both the species of Plectrophanes, are found in the British 

 Isles. 



The name "Black-headed Bunting" has been unfortunately given 

 by modern English authors to our well-known bird the "Reed 

 Bunting/' As, however, the subject of this notice can lay claim to 

 a much older title, and as I do not feel justified in creating a new 

 one, I hope English ornithologists will use the name "Reed Bunting," 

 first given, I believe, by Pennant, to our British species. 



The Black-headed Bunting is an inhabitant of the southern parts 

 of Europe and Asia Minor. It inhabits the Caucasus, and is very 

 common in Georgia, about Tiflis, and in Greece, and is not rare in 



