36 BLACK-THROATED BUNTING. 
BLACK-THROATED BUNTING-— EMBERIZA 
AMERICANA. — Fic. 9. n 
Calardra pratensis, th May-bird, Bartram, p. 291.— Peate’s Museum, No. 5952. — 
Arct. Zoo, 228. — Emberiza Americana, Ind. Orn. p. 44. 
EMBERIZA AMERICAN A. — Linnzus.* 
Fringilla Americana, Bonap. Synop. 107. 
Or this bird I have but little to say. ‘They arrive in Pennsylvania 
from the south about the middle of May; abound in the neighborhood 
of Philadelphia, and seem to prefer level fields covered with rye- 
grass, timothy, or clover, where they build their nest, fixing it in the 
ground, and forming it of fine, dried grass. The female lays five 
white eggs, sprinkled with specks and lines of black. Like most part 
of their genus, they are nowise celebrated for musical powers. Their 
whole song consists of five notes, or, more properly, of two notes; 
the first repeated twice, and slowly, the second thrice, and rapidly, 
resembling chip, chip, che che ché. Of this ditty, such as it is, they are 
by no means parsimonious, for, from their first arrival for the space of 
two or three months, every level field of grain or grass is perpetually 
serenaded with chip, chip, che che ché. In their shape and manners 
they very much resemble the Yellow-Hammer of Britain (E. citrinella ;) 
like them, they are fond of mounting to the top of some half-grown 
tree, and there cheruping for half au hour at a time. In travelling 
through different parts of New York and Pennsylvania in spring and 
summer, wherever I came to level fields of deep grass, I have con- 
stantly heard these birds around me. In August they become mute: 
and soon after, that is, towards the beginning of September, leave us 
altogether. 
The Black-throated Bunting is six inches and a half in length; 
the upper part of the head is of a dusky greenish yellow; neck, dark 
ash ; breast, inside shoulders of the wing, line over the eye, and at 
the lower angle of the bill, yellow; chin, and space between the bill 
and eye, white; throat, covered with a broad, oblong, somewhat heart- 
shaped patch of black, bordered on each side with white; back, 
* America has no birds perfectly typical with the Emberize of Europe; the 
group appears to assume two forms, under modifications, that of E. miliaria, with 
e bill of considerable strength, and that of the weaker make, of E. scheniculus. 
To the former will be allied our present species; under the latter will rank the 
small F. socialis, melodia, and palustris, &c.; the form is further represented in 
North America by Plectrophanes and Pipilo, and may be said to run into the Finches 
by means of the latter, and Mr. Swainson’s genus, Zonotrichia. The principal 
variations are the want, or smallness, of the palatial knob, and the wideness of the 
upper mandible, which exceeds that of the lower, while the reverse is the case in 
the true birds. Vieillot, I believe, proposed Passerina for some birds, but in- 
cluded many that were not so nearly allied, and Bonaparte has proposed Spiza to 
receive them, and to stand as a subgenus of Fringilla. We think the form, color 
ing, and markings, joined with their song and habit, associates them much closer to 
eriza, and as such have at present retained them. — Ep. 
ial 
