814 
HEED BUNTING. 
the whole of our islands, extending to the 
extremity of the mainland. It is also general on 
the Continent, particularly the low-lying por- 
tions, but it has not been noticed as an extra 
European bird. 
This bird Mr Swainson considers typical of 
Emberiza, placing our other species with the 
Common Bunting, as Miliaria. In the wood-cut 
preceding our characters, we have given the wings 
of the present species, and E. citrinella, between 
which little difference will be perceived. The 
characters given are, in Emberiza, “ first quill 
shorter than the four next, which are longest;” 
in Miliaria, “ three first quills the longest, and 
nearly equal in length.” In the latter, the bill is 
much stronger, and the knob very prominent. 
In Mr Swainson’s Emberiza, the palatal knob is 
nearly obsolete. See fig. 5. 
In summer or breeding plumage, the male of 
the Reed Bunting is a clean and distinctly marked 
bird. The head, cheeks, and throat, are deep 
black, contrasting beautifully with the pure collar 
of white which surrounds the back part of the 
neck and cheeks, running in a line below the 
auricular feathers to the base of the maxilla. The 
back is deep brownish black, having the feathers 
broadly edged with chestnut. The lower part of 
the back and rump has the centre of the feathers 
of the same dark tint, edged with gray, but the 
dark stripe is so narrow as to allow the real 
collar to appear almost entirely of the latter tint. 
Quills are brownish black, narrowly edged with 
