This species is spread over most of Europe, in various parts of which it is migratory ; but it remains the whole year in England. In Shetland, it has been observed in small flocks in winter, hut it retires in spring. It evinces a preference to champaign countries that abound in corn and meadows, being rarely found in uncultivated tracts, or even in grass fields that are remote from arable land. It may be frequently seen on the highest part of a hedge, or uppermost branch of a tree, uttering its harsh and dis sonant cry, which it repeats at short intervals. In this situation these birds are seen and heard during the greater part of summer, after n hick they arc met with in flocks, and continue so during most of the winter. While the fe male is busied with incubation, the male sits on a neigh bouring tree, and cheers her •with his rude song, occa sionally taking her place at noon, when she is said also to sing, perched in her turn. The nest is placed among tall herbage on the ground, or else in a very low shrub, about three or four inches above the surface of the soil, formed externally of straw, lined with fibrous roots or dry grass, and sometimes finished with long hair or wool. The eggs are from four to six, of a dirty white, spotted and veined with reddish-brown and ash colour. The young quit the nest before they can fly, being fond of running on the ground; and the parents continue to guard and feed them till they are fledged; but their anxiety for the safety of their brood not unfrequently betrays them ; and if a person happens to approach the spot, they wheel round his head in a doleful manner. These birds are sometimes brought to market, and sold for larks, to which, as an article of food, they are nothing inferior, but from which they may be easily distinguished by the form of the bill, and the tooth-like knob on the palate. The old lean birds are dry and tough ; but the Et ones are reckoned delicate. At Rome, they are fattened, like the ortolan, with millet. Bird-catchers use them as calls in autumn; and they en tice not only the foolish buntings, but many other small birds of different kinds into the snare. For this purpose they are put into low cages without bars or roosts.
E. schxniculus, Lin. &c. E. arundinacea of some authors, and E. nasserina of others, this last applying to the young. Reed Bunting, Black-head Bunting, or Reed Sparrow. Head black ; body black and grey ; outer tail feathers with a wedge-shaped white spot. Weight nearly five drachms and a half; length six inches; and alar extent nine inches. The female is a little less than the male, has the upper part of the head varied with rufous, shows less of black on the fore part of the neck, and wants the white ring on the head. It is found as far north as Denmark, is rare in Sweden, but not uncommon in the marshy and reedy districts of the rest of Europe, and of southern Si beria. A brown variety occurs at the Cape of Good Hope, and a white one at Astrachan. Although these birds delight in fenny situations, they sometimes resort to the high grounds in rainy seasons. In spring they are seen by the sides of roads, and in August they feed in the corn fields, when they manifest a decided predilection for millet. In general they seek their food, like the other buntings, along the hedges and in cultivated spots, resort ing to their marshes in the evening. They keep near the ground, and seldom perch except on the bushes ; neither do they assemble in large flocks, scarcely more than four or live being They jerk their tail upwards and downwards as quickly as the wagtails, and with fully more animation. They seem to be abundantly vigilant ;
and when they descry a fowler, or other object of alarm, they make an incessant teasing cry,which is apt to frighten away game. In this country they are mostly stationary ; but in France, and other parts of the Continent, they are partial migrants, arriving in Lorraine in April, and depart ing in autumn. It is somewhat extraordinary, that the economy of this bird should have so long remained in ob scurity. Even modern authors assure us that it is a song ster, warbling after sun-set, and describe its nest as sus pended over the water, and fastened between two or three reeds. There can be no doubt, however, that the nest, as well as the song of the sedge warbler, have been mistaken for those of the present species, whose tune consists only of two notes, the first repeated three or four times, and the last single and more shrill, and this it continues to deliver, with small intervals, from the same spray, for a considerable length of time when the female is sitting. Thenest is most commonly placed on the ground near water, but sometimes in a bush, at a little distance from the ground, and at other times in high grass, reeds, sedges, or even in furze, con siderably remote from any water ; but in none of these situations is it fastened or suspended, as authors have re lated. It is composed of stalks of grass, or other dry ve getable substances, sometimes partly of moss, and lined with fine grass, to which long hair is occasionally added by way of finish. The eggs, which are four or five, are either of a dirty bluish-white, or purplish-brown, with nu merous dark-coloured spots and veins much resembling those of the chaffinch.
E. hortulana, Lin. &c. Ortolan Bunting, or Ortolan. Quill feathers black, three outer feathers with whitish mar gins ; tail feathers black, the two lateral ones externally white. In size the ortolan is somewhat smaller than the yellow-hammer, being in length six inches and a quarter, and stretching its wings to nine inches. Though not found in Great Britain, it occurs in various parts of Eu rope, as Italy, France, Germany, and even Sweden, mi grating in spring and autumn, when great quantities of them are caught, and fattened for the market, being pro verbially celebrated for the delicacy of their flavour. That they may more speedily 'acquire the requisite degree of plumpness, they are shut up in a room, from which the external light is excluded, hut in which are placed a few lan terns, to enable them to see to run about, and pick up the millet and oats that are regularly strewed on the floor. Under this regimen they soon get so fat, that they would speedily die if not removed by the dealers. It is pre tended, that those from the plains about Toulouse are su perior to those of Italy. In some districts of the latter country where they are plentiful, as, for example, in Lom bardy, they are not only prepared for the table, but train ed to sing ; and Salerne observes, that there is considera ble sweetness in their song. If allowed to associate, espe cially when young, with other birds, they adopt some of their notes. The female makes her nest in a low hedge, or a vine, or on the ground, especially among corn, com posing it carelessly of bents, mixed with leaves and dry or green rushes. She lays four or five greyish eggs, with a very pale tinge of purple, and sprinkled with very small blackish spots. There are usually two broods in the year.