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THE COMMON BUNTING . 
About the end of autumn, all the young birds have been fully fledged, and instead of 
haunting the hedge-rows, they assemble in considerable flocks, and visit the fields in search of 
food. In the winter, should the weather be severe, they become very bold, and joining the 
sparrows, and other little birds, enter the farm-yards and cultivated grounds, and endeavor to 
pick up a subsistence. When food is plentiful, the Yellow Ammer becomes very fat, and in 
some instances is killed for the table, being thought nearly as good as the celebrated ortolan, 
to which bird it is closely allied. 
The reader may probably have remarked, that I have called the bird Yellow Ammer, and 
not Yellow Hammer, as is mostly the case. The correction is due to Mr. Yarrell, who well 
observes that, ‘ £ I have ventured to restore to this bird what I believe to have been its first 
English name, Yellow Ammer, although it appears to have been printed Yellow Ham and 
Yellow Hammer from the days of Drs. William Turner and Merrett to the present time. The 
word Ammer is a well-known German term for Bunting in very common use. Thus Bechstein 
employs the names Schnee -ammer, Grau-ammer, Rohr-ammer, Garten-ammer, and Gold- 
ammer, for the Snow Bunting, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Ortolan or Garden Bunting, and 
Yellow Bunting. Prefixing the letter H to the word appears to be unnecessary and even 
erroneous, as suggesting a notion which has no reference to any known habit or quality in 
the bird.” 
The general color of this bird is bright yellow, variegated with patches of dark brown, and 
having a richly mottled brownish-yellow on the back, with a decided warm ruddy tinge. The 
primary feathers of the wing are black, edged with yellow, and the remainder of the feathers 
throughout, with all the wing-coverts, are deep brown-black, edged with ruddy brown. The 
chin, throat, and all the under parts of the body are bright, pure yellow, sobering into rusty- 
brown on the flanks. The female is similarly marked, but is not so brilliant in her hues. 
The total length of the bird is about seven inches. 
The Ortolan, or Garden Bunting, is widely celebrated for the delicacy of its flesh, or 
rather for that of its fat ; the fat of the Ortolan being somewhat analogous to the green fat of 
the turtle, in the opinion of gourmands. 
The Ortolan is most frequently found on the European continent, where its advent is 
expected with great anxiety, and vast numbers are annually captured for the table. These 
bird 3 are not killed at once, as they would not be in proper condition, but they are placed in a 
dark room, so as to prevent them from moving about, and are fed largely with oats and millet, 
until they become mere lumps of fat, weighing nearly three ounces, and are then killed and 
sent to table. The net and decoy-bird are the means that are generally employed for their 
capture. 
The nest of the Ortolan is placed on the ground, generally among corn, and upon a sandy 
soil, where some slight defence helps to conceal the nest, and to afford a partial shelter from 
the wind. The materials of which it is made are grasses of different degrees of fineness, and 
a few hairs which are placed in the interior. The number of eggs is five or six, and their color 
is pale bluish-white, covered with spots of black. The nest is generally begun in the early 
part of May. The Ortolan has no real song, its voice being limited to a few monotonous 
chirping notes. 
The coloring of this bird is as follows : The head is gray with a green tinge, and the back 
is ruddy brown, beautifully mottled with black. The wings are black, with brown edges to 
the feathers ; the chin, throat, and upper portions of the breast are greenish-yellow ; and the 
abdomen is warm buff. The total length of the Ortolan is rather more than six inches. 
As the Common Bunting is not so brilliant a bird as the Yellow Bunting, it is less 
noticed, though quite as plentiful. 
It is a thick-set and heavily made bird, not being possessed of the elegant shape which is 
found in its yellow relative. During the spring and summer, the Bunting is generally found 
in the corn-fields, from which habit it is sometimes termed the Corn Bunting, and is but seldom 
seen among trees, or on open pasture-lands. Its food chiefly consists of various grass seeds, 
