114 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
it lives well on the usual mixed seeds, including oats, with the addition of an 
occasional mealworm, cockroach, or spider. 
Like most of the British Buntings, the Cirl Bunting (if kept in an aviary) 
is, as Lord Lilford observes, “dull, silent, and greedy.” Rarely one may hear 
it sing, once or twice perhaps in the course of a month: it is not, however, an 
aggressive bird; and, when it does show itself, makes a pretty addition to a 
collection of Finches. My friend, Mr. Phillip Crowley, purchased a pair at the 
Crystal Palace Show some years ago, and turned them out into his mixed garden 
aviary, where I believe they lived for several years; but one which I had (I think 
in 1893 or 1894) only survived for about a twelvemonth, dying suddenly without 
apparent cause. 
Family—FRINGILLIDAE. Subfamily—EMBERIZINA. 
THE ORTOLAN BUNTING. 
Emberiza hortulana, LANN. 
“TN Scandinavia the northern limit of its breeding-range extends to the Arctic 
circle”; “in the Ural Mountains it is not found further north than lat. 
57.” “In Siberia, the eastward limit of its range appears to be the valley of the 
Irtish, as far as its source in the Altai Mountains; thence it extends westwards 
through Turkestan and Persia to Palestine and Asia Minor. In all these countries 
it is a summer migrant, and in the two latter it is principally known as passing 
through on migration, though a few retire to the mountains to breed. This 
appears to be the case also in Greece and Italy; but to the rest of Europe, 
south of the northern limits above mentioned, it is a regular summer visitor. A 
few remain to breed in North-west Africa, but the majority passes southwards in 
autumn, and doubtless winter somewhere in West Africa. It also passes through 
Egypt on migration, and winters in Abyssinia; a few also winter in North-west 
India.” (Seebohm, Hist. Brit. Birds, Vol. II, pp. 153-4). 
