were black in summer, as well as the chestnut collar, mottled
with dark brown and white. The darker hue of the breeding
dress is produced by the buff edges of the feathers
dropping off.
My own young bird has the bill brown: the whole
plumage dark brown, with light brown edges; wing- and
tail-quills brownish-black; throat, breast and all the lower
surface, pale brown, spotted with darker brown on the
breast and flanks : legs, toes and claws, light brown.
The vignette represents the foot and sternum of this
species.
PASSERES. EM B E R IZ ID J i.
E m b e r iza sc h c en ic lu s , Linnaeus*.
THE REED-BUNTING.
Emberiza schoeniclus.
E m b e r i z a , Linnceusf.-—Bill hard, conical and sh o rt; the upper mandible not
■wider than the lower, the edges of both inflected and those of the latter sinuated;
the palate generally furnished with a projecting bony knob. Nostrils oval, basal
and placed somewhat near the culmen, partly hidden by small feathers. Gape
angular. Wings moderate : first primary finely attenuated and so small as to seem
wanting; second, third and fourth generally nearly equal, the fourth or fifth
commonly the longest in We wing and considerably longer than the next. Tail
rather long and slightly forked. Tarsus scutellate in front, covered at the sides
with an undivided plate forming a sharp ridge behind, almost as long as the middle
toe. Claws considerably curved, that of the hind toe of moderate length.
T h e R e e d -B u n t in g , or Reed-Sparrow!, as it is most commonly
called, is a well-known inhabitant of marshy places
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 311 (1766). + Tom. cit. p. 308.
X The name of Black-beaded Bunting, first applied to this species by Beilby
(who wrote the text of the first volume of Bewick’s well-known work) and adopted
in former editions of these volumes, had already been appropriated by Latham to
a perfectly distinct species. As the latter has now to be included as a “ British
Bird ” there seems to be no choice left but to fall back upon the older and far
more generally used name of Reed-Bunting.