54 BLACK-THROATED BUNTING. 



in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, and seem to prefer 

 level fields covered with rye-grass, timothy, or clover, where 

 they bnild 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 che. 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, 

 die che che. In their shape and manners they very much 

 resemble the yellowhammer of Britain (E. citrinella) ; like 

 them, they are fond of mounting to the top of some half-grown 

 tree, and there chirruping for half-an-hour at a time. In 

 travelling through different parts of New York and Pennsyl- 

 vania in spring and summer, wherever I came to level fields 

 of deep grass, I have constantly 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, 



&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 included many that were not so nearly allied, and Bona- 

 parte has proposed Spiza to receive them, and to stand as a sub-genus of 

 Fringilla. We think the form, colouring, and markings, joined with 

 their song and habit, associates them much closer to Emberiza, and as 

 such have at present retained them. — Ed. 



