160 BRITISH BIRDS. 



EMBERIZA CITRINELLA. 

 YELLOW HAMMER*. 



(Plate 13.) 



Emberiza emberiza, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 2-58 (1760). 



Emberiza citrinella, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 309 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum— 



Omelin, Scopoli, Latham, Temminck, Degland <f- Gerbe, Dresser, Newton, &c. 

 Emberiza sylvestris, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 294 (1831). 

 Emberiza septentrionalis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 295 (1831). 

 Citrinella citrinella {Linn.), Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 113 (1870). 



The Yellow Hammer is by far the commonest and most widely dispersed 

 of all our native Buntings. Its brilliant dress and monotonous song are 

 almost as well known as the sombre garb and harsh notes of the Sparrow. 

 At all seasons of the year it enlivens the fields the moor, the garden, or 

 the farmyard. It breeds in almost every part of Great Britain, even in 

 the Outer Hebrides and in Orkney ; but it appears not to do so in the 

 Shetlands, although it is an occasional visitor to those islands. In Ireland 

 it is as common as in Great Britain ; but it does not appear to have ever 

 visited the Faroes or Iceland. 



The range of the Yellow Hammer is somewhat similar to that of the 

 Corn-Bunting, but extends further to the north and east, and not quite 

 so far to the south. On the continent of Europe it breeds throughout 

 Scandinavia, at least as far north as lat. 70° It is found throughout 

 Russia nearly up to the Arctic circle ; and in the valley of the Petchora 

 Harvie-Brown and I met with it as far north as lat. 65^°. In Siberia 

 Finsch met with it in the valley of the Obb up to lat. 64° ; and it appears 

 to extend southwards in the valley of this river to its sources in the Altai 

 Mountains. Radde saw it in winter near Krasnoyarsk; but this must be 

 exceptional, as I did not meet with it, nor have I received it from my col- 

 lector living in that town. In the extreme northern portions of its range it 

 is only a summer visitor. It is resident in North France, Holland, Belgium, 

 Denmark, Germany, North Italy, and Austria ; but to the south of Prance, 

 Spain, Portugal, the south of Italy, Turkey, Asia Minor, the extreme north- 

 west of Persia, and North-west Turkestan it is only a winter visitor. In the 

 south it is a resident in the island of TenerifFe ; but there is no satisfactory 

 evidence of its ever having been found on the African continent. Several 

 of the Buntings are nearly allied to the Yellow Hammer, but none of 

 them can be confounded with it. The Yellow Hammer is the only species 



* Yellow Hammer signifies Yellow Bunting, the word " Hammer " being derived from 

 tbe same source as the German word " Ammer," whicb denotes a Bunting. The addition 

 of the letter h is probably an English corruption of the original word. 



