78 
BIRDS. PASSERES. 
Embehiza. 
Length 71, breadth 11| inches ; weight about 2 ounces. Bill brown ; iri- 
des dark hazel ; legs yellow. Throat white, with black spots ; belly white ; 
wings and tail black, the coverts edged with yellowish-brown. Female like 
the male. Nest on the ground like its congeners. Eggs 4, whitish, spotted 
and veined with brown. The young have a reddish tinge. This bunting is 
gregarious in winter, and is often taken in lark-nets, and brought to mark^et. 
It extends to the Zetland Islands. 
84. E. SclicEniculus. Reed Bunting. — The head, chin, and 
throat black. 
Passer torquatus in arundinetis nidificans, Will. Orn. 196 E. sch. Linn. 
Syst. i. 311. Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 326. Temm. Orn. i. 307 F, Reed 
Sparrow, Water-Sparrow; S', Black-Bonnet; IF, Golfan-y-cyrs — A 
common resident near marshy ground. 
Length 64, breadth 10 inches ; weight ounce. Bill black ; irides and feet 
brown. A band of white commences at the corners of the mouth, and, grow- 
ing broader behind the ears, encircles the head. Belly white. Back black, 
the feathers edged with brown. QuiUs brown, with pale edges. Tail with 
the two middle feathers brown, with pale edges ; the two exterior ones on 
each side half white and half black, with a brown spot near the tip. In the 
female the head is tinged with reddish-brown, the Avhite on the belly inclines 
to dusky, and there is no white ring round the head. Nest in grass or furze 
near the ground, of dried stalks, lined with fine grass and hair. Eggs, 4, 
bluish-white, with brown spots and veins. The white ring is wanting in the 
young males.— -Gregarious in winter, and mixing with other species. Does 
not occur in the northern islands. 
85. E. nivalis. Snow-Bunting. — Tip of the bill, legs, feet, 
and claws, black ; the claw of the hind-toe produced. 
Montifringilla calcaribus Alaudse, Will. 187 — Fringilla, Sibb. Scott. 18. 
— E. niv. Linn. Syst. i. 308 — Fab. Faun. Gr. 117 — Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 
329. Temm. Orn. i. 319. *S', Snowflake; W, Golfan-yr-eira ; G, Eun- 
t-sneachdaidb — A winter visitant. 
Length 64, breadth 124 inches ; weight 14 ounces. Bill black, yellow with- 
in ; irides hazel. The head, neck, breast, belly, and rump white, with the 
roots of the feathers black. Back black, with pale edges. Primaries black, 
with a white base. Middle tail-feathers black, the three outer ones white, 
with a dusky spot near the end. In the female the black is paler, and the 
white dusky. Nest in crevices of rocks, in May, constructed on the outside 
with grass, lined with feathers, and then with hair. Eggs 5, white, with dusky 
spots. In the young, the base of the bill is yellow, and the head, ear-coverts, 
breast, and sides, more or less mixed with chesnut. The feathers on the 
back dusky, with rufous edges. In this state, or some of its num.erous varie- 
ties, it is the Tawny Bunting and Mountain Bunting of Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 
327 ., and 321. — This bunting breeds in Greenland, visits this country in har- 
vest, and retires in spring. It is first seen on the high ground in stubble- 
fields, and its motions resemble those of the lark. As the winter advances it 
approaches the corn-yard, and feeds with the sparrow and finches. In Zetland 
it is called Oat-fowl, from the preference which it gives to that kind of grain. 
As a straggler, may be noticed the E. cirus., Turton’s Lin. Syst. i. 542., dis- 
tinguished by having the head blue ; belly orange ; back green. It is a na- 
tive of South America. Montagu, in his Supplement to his Orn. Diet., ar- 
ticle Grosbeak, says, “ A painted Bunting, E. cirus., was taken alive on Port- 
land Island, in the year 1802, having doubtless made its escape from on board 
some ship going up Channel, or that came to anchor oflp Weymouth. This bird 
we saw alive in the possession of Mrs Stewart of that place.” 
