62 EMBER1ZID.E. 



small seeds, particularly canary, were acceptable. Oats they 

 greedily devoured, after dexterously depriving them of their 

 outer husk. The monotonous song of the male was inces- 

 sant, shrill, and piercing ; so much resembling the vociferous 

 call-notes of the babillard, (the lesser white-throat,) that 

 it requires considerable knowledge of their language not to 

 mistake the one for the other. According to Continental 

 authors, it is abundant in the warmer parts of France, in 

 Italy, and on the shores of the Mediterranean, but is not 

 found in the colder regions. 



" The female might readily be mistaken for that sex of the 

 yellow-hammer at a little distance, but is materially different 

 when compared, especially in the chesnut colour of the upper 

 parts of this bird. The note is simple and plaintive, similar 

 to that of the yellow-hammer, but shorter, not so shrill, and 

 the latter part not drawn out to such a length. 



" It is said to be only found on the Continent, in the 

 warmer parts of France and Italy ; so with us it seems to be 

 confined to the mildest part of England, but the winter of 

 1800, which was severe in Devonshire, did not force them to 

 seek a warmer climate, but, on the contrary, they continued 

 gregarious with other small birds, searching their food amongst 

 the ploughed lands."" 



Since the time of Montagu this species, being better 

 known than formerly, has been observed in many localities, 

 chiefly in the southern quarter of the kingdom, seldom ap- 

 pearing so far north as the midland counties. We are dis- 

 posed to attribute its being confined to counties along the 

 southern coast, not to any partiality for the vicinity of the 

 sea, as some have supposed, but to the greater mildness of the 

 climate, since we find that, on the Continent, this bird is 

 found, not only in the southern parts of France and Italy, 

 but in Thuringia and Switzerland. 



We have no doubt of this Bunting inhabiting sparingly 



