164 
BLACK-THROATED BUNTING. 
constantly heard these birds around me. In August they become 
mute, and soon after, that is, towards the beginning of Septem- 
ber, leave us altogether. 
The Black-throated Bunting is six inches and a half in length; 
the upper part of the head is of a dusky greenish yellow; neck 
dark ash; breast, inside shoulders of the wing, line over the 
eye and at the lower angle of the bill yellow; chin, and space 
between the bill and eye white; throat covered with a broad, 
oblong, somewhat heart-shaped patch of black, bordered on 
each side with white; back, rump and tail ferruginous, the first 
streaked with black; wings deep dusky, edged with a light clay 
colour; lesser coverts and whole shoulder of the wing bright 
bay; belly and vent dull white; bill light blue, dusky above, 
strong and powerful for breaking seeds; legs and feet brown; 
iris of the eye hazel. The female differs from the male in hav- 
ing little or no black on the breast, nor streak of yellow over 
the eye; beneath the eye she has a dusky streak, running in the 
direction of the jaw. In all those I opened the stomach was 
filled with various seeds, gravel, eggs of insects, and sometimes 
a slimy kind of earth or clay. 
This bird has been figured by Latham, Pennant, and several 
others. The former speaks of a bird which he thinks is either 
the same, or nearly resembling it, that resides in summer in the 
country about Hudson’s Bay, and is often seen associating in 
flights with the geese;* this habit, however, makes me suspect 
that it must be a different species; for while with us here the 
Black-throated Bunting is never gregarious; but is almost al- 
ways seen singly, or in pairs, or, at most, the individuals of one 
family together. 
* Lath. Syn. Suppl. p. 158. 
