BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 25 



Specific Characters. — The first primary equal in length to the 

 second, and slightly longer than the third; primaries and tail 

 light brown, the latter without any white markings. Bach and 

 rump rich russet, tinged with yellow. Length six inches and a 

 half; from carpus to tip three inches and three-quarters; tail 

 three inches; beak from gape seven-tenths of an inch; tarsus 

 nine-tenths of an inch. 



The Buntings are a very natural group, and easily 

 distinguished, by their peculiar characters, from the 

 rest of the family. They live in fields, woods, gardens, 

 road-sides, or banks of rivers and marshes. They feed 

 upon farinaceous seeds and insects. The sexes are 

 always distinctly marked, the males having the most 

 vivid coloration. The young resemble the females, 

 except in having duller colours, and being more spotted. 

 Temminck says none of the European species moult 

 more than once, while the exotic species do so regu- 

 larly, the colours of the male changing considerably, 

 having in summer, very brilliant colours, but in winter 

 the quiet and modest plumage of the female. Degland 

 remarks, — "The greater number, independently of the 

 usual moult which takes place towards the end of 

 summer, have also in spring a change in coloration. 

 This change is occasioned by the under part of the 

 plumage, which is always the most brilliantly-coloured, 

 being in the spring uncovered by the rubbing away 

 of the edges of the feathers, which are of a duller 

 tint." The Buntings nest on the ground, on banks, 

 or among grass, in bushes, shrubs, or reeds. Those 

 species which have the hind toe long and straight have 

 been separated by Meyer, under the generic term 

 Plectrophanes. The others form a very closely-allied 

 and distinct family, notwithstanding which Kaup has 

 divided the genus into eiffht. 



