306 
COMMON BUNTING. 
angle at the gape ; wings, with the second 
and third quills longest, first and fourth 
equal, feet moderate, outer and inner toes 
equal, hind claw lengthened ; tail slightly 
forked. E. milaria and citrinella. 
The Common Bunting, Embeiuza miliaria, 
Linn. Sfc. — Emberiza miliaria, Linn. — 
Miliaria Europea, Swains. — Bunting, Common 
or Corn Bunting , of British authors. — This Bun- 
ting, though generally called the “ Common,” is 
perhaps not so abundant as some of the others, 
and is certainly in some districts of local dis- 
tribution. In England, it is said to frequent 
the cultivated parts ; and in Scotland, we have 
chiefly observed it in the valleys where an extent 
of holm land lay on each side of the stream which 
generally runs through them. In wooded or very 
hilly districts it is scarcely known. During the 
season of incubation they may be seen sitting on 
the top of a hedge, bush, or stone wall, repeating at 
short intervals their shrill and little varied note, and ' 
they occasionally shift their station to some other 
elevated twig by a slow fluttering flight, expanding 
the tail at the same time, and uttering their notes 
as they fly. The nest is built on the ground in 
a hay or grain field, or among any lengthened 
herbage in an open situation, and sometimes it is 
slightly raised from among coarser plants or 
bushes. The fabric is rather large, and is care- 
lessly composed, exteriorly of roots and dried 
