CIRL BUNTING. 
309 
the colours less brilliant, and the markings less 
distinct on the lower parts ; the gamboge yellow 
is less clear, and is streaked with greenish orange. 
In the young birds the colours are also less dis- 
tinct, and nearly resembles that of the female. 
The Cirl Bunting, Emberiza cirlus, Linn. 
— Emberiza cirlus of authors. — Cirl Bunting, 
French, or Black-throated Yellow Hammer, or 
Ammer, of British authors — This very distinct 
species was added to the British Fauna by the 
late Colonel Montague, who first discovered it 
near King’s Bridge, in winter, among flocks of 
other small birds. During the summer following, 
lie discovered its nidification, and his account 
and history was our only British record for many 
years. Since his discovery, it has been frequently 
met with, principally on the coast, in several of 
the southern counties of England, ranging north- 
ward as far as Yorkshire. In Scotland we have 
one notice of its occurrence near Edinburgh, 
which seems to have been overlooked by modern 
ornithologists, except Mr Yarrell. Mr Thompson 
does not include it in his Irish Fauna. On the 
Continent, in the middle and southern districts, 
it seems more equally distributed ; and Mr Strick- 
land observed it near Smyrna.* We have never 
had the satisfaction of seeing this bird alive ; but, 
from the descriptions given, and the accounts which 
some of our friends have detailed to us, it appears, 
* Yarrell, i. p. 619. 
