BUNTING. 
61 
Its natural notes are few, but remarkably soft, and delivered so low as 
often to escape the attention of a common observer ; the call notes are 
equally simple but more audible. When caged it becomes very docile, 
and may be taught a variety of tunes, for which reason, as well as for 
its beauty, it is frequently deprived of liberty.* 
BUMBLE. — A name for the Bittern. 
BUMPY COSS. — A name for the Bittern. 
BUNTING {Emheriza miliaria, Linn^us.) 
*Emberiza miliaria, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 308.3 Faun. Suec. p. 228 Lath. Ind. Orn. 
1. p. 402. sp. 12 Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 868. sp. 3 Emberiza alba, llaii, Syn. p. 
93. A. 1. — Will. p. 195. 1 . 40. — Cynchramus, B/’iss. 3. p. 292. 10 — Le Proyer, 
Buff. Ois. 4. p. 355. t. 16. — Ih. pi. Enl. 233 Bruant Proyer, Temm. Man. 
d’Orn. 1. p. 306 Der Grauammer, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 3. p. 262. — Meyer, 
Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 180. — Frisch, Vbg. t. 6. f. 2. B. — Bunting, Br. Zool. 
1. No. 118. — Arct. Zool. 2. p. 366. B. — Alhin, 2. t. 50.—-WHI. (Ang.) p. 
267. t. 40 — Lath. Syn, 3. p. 171. — Mont. Orn. Diet Lewin’s Br. Birds, 2. 
t. 74. — Wale. Syn, 2. t. 213. — Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 11. — Bewick’s Br. Birds, 
1. p. t, 141 — Low’s Faun. Oread, p. 60. — Shaw’s Zool. 9. p. 360. — Selby, pi. 
52. %. 1. p. 239. 
Provincial. — Corn Bunting. Bunting Lark. Ebb.* 
The weight of this species is nearly two ounces ; length seven 
inches and a half. Bill brown ; irides dark hazel ; head and upper 
parts light brown, inclining to olive ; the under parts yellowish 
white, with a dusky stroke down the shaft of each feather, except 
on the belly, which is quite plain ; quill-feathers dusky, with lighter 
edges ; tail somewhat forked and dusky ; the legs are of a dull light 
yellow. 
Male and female alike. 
The Common Bunting seems to delight in champaign countries 
abounding with corn, and is rarely found in uncultivated parts, or grass 
fields, distant from arable land. In the winter these birds become 
gregarious, and sometimes visit the farmers’ yards, ‘‘*'1 witnessed this 
morning,” says Mr. Knapp, ‘‘ a rick of barley, entirely stripped of its 
thatching, which this Bunting had effected by seizing the end of the 
straw, and deliberately drawing it out to search for any grain that might 
yet remain. The sparrow and other birds will burrow in the stack, 
and pilfer the corn, but the deliberate operation of unroofing the 
edifice appears to be peculiar to the Bunting.”* When it sings (if it 
can be called a song) it generally assumes the loftiest branches of a 
bush, or some low tree ; or even perched on the top of a dock it cheers 
its patient incubating mate with a screaming inharmonious note * (termed 
expressively by Mr. Low, a skirl.)* The nest is placed on the ground, 
formed externally of straw, lined with fibrous roots or dry grass, some- 
times finished with long hairs. The eggs are generally four in number, 
