54 



BLACK-THROATED BUNTING. 

 EMBERIZA AMERICANA. 

 [Plate III.— Fig. 2.] 



Calandra pratensis, the May Bird, Bartram,/?. 291. — Pe ale's Museum, No. 5952*— 

 Arct. Zool. 228. — Emberiza Americana, Ind. Orn. p. 44. 



OF this bird I have but little to say. They arrive in Penn- 

 sylvania from the south about the middle of May ; abound in the 

 neighbourhood of Philadelphia, and seem to prefer level fields co- 

 vered 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 no ways 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, 

 che che che. 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 

 chirrupping for half an hour at a time. In travelling thro differ- 

 ent parts of New York and Pennsylvania 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 



