THE REED-BUNTING. 119 
Family—FRINGILLID. Subfamily—EMBERIZINA:. 
THE REED-BUNTING. 
Emberiza schentclus, LINN. 
REQUENTLY, though incorrectly, called Black-headed Bunting, Reed 
Sparrow, Water Sparrow, and Mountain Sparrow; also well-known under 
the popular name of Black-bonnet, is distributed over the whole of Europe from 
the North Cape to the Mediterranean, as well as in Western Siberia; but it is 
only a summer visitor to the more northern parts of its range, and chiefly a winter 
visitor to the extreme south; at this season it is also met with in Asia Minor and 
North Africa. Races of this species occurring in the south of Europe, in Siberia, 
Mongolia, and China, and a subspecies in Turkestan and Yarkand, have been dis- 
tinguished by names; but none of them occur in Great Britain. 
The Reed-Bunting is resident with us, and generally distributed throughout 
our islands, although only a chance visitor to the Shetlands. In the autumn there 
is an extensive immigration from the Continent, which reaches our eastern coasts 
and the coasts of Ireland in September. 
The adult male has the head, including the chin, throat, and centre of breast 
jet black; a white moustachial streak running from the base of the lower mandible 
to join a white collar continuous with a belt which bounds the black of throat 
and breast; feathers of back, wing-coverts, and secondaries black, bordered broadly 
with bright chestnut; lower back and upper tail-coverts bluish-ash, the feathers 
tipped with chestnut, those of the lower back partly black-centred; primaries 
smoky brown, with narrow chestnut edges to the outer webs; tail blackish, the 
two outer feathers on each side with the greater part of the outer web and a large 
wedge-shaped patch on the inner web white; remainder of under parts dull white, 
tinged with bluish ash and buff, and streaked with black on the flanks; beak 
brownish-black, underside of lower mandible much paler; feet brown; iris hazel. 
After the autumn moult, the feathers of the head, back of neck, chin, throat, and 
front of breast, have tawny or brown tips, and the feathers of the lower breast 
and belly are stained at the tips with buff. In the female the feathers of the 
head are dark brown with reddish-brown borders; the lores and a superciliary 
stripe bounding the ear-coverts pale buff; the throat is white, bounded on each 
