History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

Emberiza. BIRDS. PASSERES. 77Length 7| inches ; weight 2 ounces. Bill and legsblack. Head and neckorange-red ; bill yellowish-orange back and rump with black ; feathers, havinga yellow margin. Two cross bars of white on the wings. Quills andtail-feathers edged with orange. The female has the red more tinged withbrown, and the back and belly cinereous. Nest on trees._ Eggs 4, of a whitecolour. Food the seeds of trees. Pennant noticed individuals of this speciesin the pine forest of Invercauld, Aberdeenshire, in August, and conjecturesthat they bred there. Mr Selby, in his " Illustrations," p. 257-, seems inclinedto regard them as only occasional visitants.Gen. XXXIX. EMBERIZA. Bunting.—Bill short, conical,the palate furnished with a bony knob.81. E. Citrinella. Yellow Bunting.— Head, neck, andbreast gamboge yellow.E. flava, Will. Orn. 196 Citrinella Sibb* Scot. IS—E. Citrinella, Linn.Svst. i. 309 -B, Yellow Stammer, Yellow Yowly ; S, Yite, YellowYeldrock ; W, Llinos felen ; G, Buidheag bhealaidh—Common.Length C^, breadth 10 inches; weight 7 drams. Bill bluish; irides hazel ;lews yellow. Back }rellowish-brown, tinged with green. Quills black, edgedwith yellow. Hump brownish-orange. Tail dusky, edged with greenish-yellow;the inner web of the two external feathers, on each side, with a largespot of white. In the female the colours are paler, and the yellow inclinesmore to brown. Pair in May. Nest on the ground among low grass, otdried stalks, lined with hair. Eggs 5, of a pale purplish white, with redstreaks. This species is familiar, and resides near the dwellings of men. Ingeographicaldistribution it reaches not to Orkney.This speciesvaries in the yellow of the head being replaced by olive-green,in which state it is the E. chlorocephala of Gmelin (Turton's trans, i. 544.),and has occurred in the neighbourhood of London.82. E. Cirlus. Cirl Bunting. — The throat and a band overthe eyeblack.Linn. Syst.i. 311—Cirl Bunting, Mont. Orn. Diet, and Lin. Trans, vii.276. Temm. Orn. i. 313—Breeds in Devonshire.Size like the last. Bill bluish ; irides hazel ;legs brown ; claws dusky.A yellow band above and below the eye. Lower part of the neck yellow ;breast olive-grey ; belly yellow back brown. Quills ; dusky, edged with green.Tail, with the two middle tail-feathers chesnut, the rest black, except the twoexterior ones on each side, which have an oblique bar of white from the tiphalf way and the outmost feather is white throughout the whole of the exteriorweb. Female smaller, with the plumage spotted with dusky. Pair;in April. Nest in a low bush of ; dry stalks, lined with hair. Eggs 4or 5, greyish-white, with irregular long and short curved dusky lines—Thisspecies was first observed in Britain by Montagu, in 1800, in Devonshire,where it breeds and is resident ;congregating in the winter with YellowBuntings and Chaffinches. A straggler of this species has been shot nearEdinburgh, as noticed by Mr Wilson in Wern. Mem. ii. G58.83. E. Miliaria. Common Bunting.— Plumage, above yellowish-brown,inclining to oil-green, the centre of the feathersdusky.E. alba, Will. Orn. 195. Sibb. Scot. 18. E. Mil. Linn. Svst. i. 308.Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 324. Temm. Orn. i. 306— E, Bunting-lark, Ebb. ;S, Corn-bunting; W, Bras-y-ddruttan, bras-yr-yd ; G, Gelag-bhuachair.—Commonnear corn-fields.