EMBERIZINE. 209 
THE YELLOW BUNTING. 
EMBERIZA CITRINELLA, Linnzus. 
The Yellow Bunting is familiarly known as the Yellow Hammer ; 
the latter portion of the name having, no doubt, a common origin with 
‘Ammer,’ the modern German word for a Bunting ; but our form of 
spelling has now been in print for upwards of two centuries, and 
few, even among purists, will risk the imputation of a solecism by 
omitting the aspirate. The species is for the most part common 
and resident throughout the British Islands; it even nests in the 
Outer Hebrides and the Orkneys, but as yet is not known to do so 
in the Shetlands, although a winter-visitor to that group. As regards 
Ireland Mr. Barrington remarks that, considering its abundance, the 
birds which strike against the lighthouses are comparatively few in 
number. 
In Norway the Yellow Bunting is found breeding up to about 
70° N. lat., but eastward, its northern summer range gradually 
declines to 64° on the Ob, in Siberia, and even less in the valley of 
the Yenesei, where the bird is not known eastward of Krasnoiarsk ; 
while to the south-westward, it occurs in Turkestan, Persia and 
Asia Minor. In temperate Europe this species is generally dis- 
tributed, and, except in the northern districts, is resident; but its 
breeding-range does not appear to extend southward of the Pyrenees 
and the Cantabrian Mountains, nor the northern portions of Italy ; 
while, even in winter, the bird is almost unknown in the islands of 
the Mediterranean, Southern Italy, and the south-west of Spain, 
S 
