580 BLACK-THROATED BUNTING.
favourable to tlicmi: and it is probably for this reaSoii that none ai'e
found in any purely sandy part of the State of New Jersey.
The Hluok-tliroatod Buntings reach our AiiflilUi State« about the
10th or 15th of May, and at once betake themselves to the dry meadow
lands and grain fields, uhere they soon after begin to breed. The
mates are often observed perched on tho "fop branches of the Shade:
trees found in those places, and engaged in delighting their mates with
their simple ditty, which, according to my learned friend Mr Ni.ttai.i.,
resembles 'tw 'tic-Mi' tsUi tske isKe,'and tship tship, Unhf tsM ticki' trchip.
To my ears the notes of our Black-throated Bunting si. nnmh resemble!
those of the Corn Buntings # Europe, Kmberiza Miliaria, that I have
often been reminded of the one bv hearing tile song of the other. These
unmusical notes arc almost, eoritinuou^ly uttered from sunrise tS'sunsfit,
and all this while the female is snugly Seated, on her eggs, and listening
tp her beloved. Hjfttflpl visits her, alightibg within a, few
yards; of where she is concealed; and then o^ulmusly'proeeeding toward
the spot on foot, through the, grass. When the bird leave« the riost,:it
creeps along tcf home distance, tod then flies off low over the ground.
About the first of Juno the mist is formed? It is constructw"'oi
fine grass neatly Woven in a circular form, and is partly imbe'ddei
in the soil,, and sholfercd or concealed by a tuft of herbage." The
eggs, usually five, are sis and a half eighths in length, four and threefourths
in breadth, of a sullied white, generally sprinkled with faint
touches of different tint? of untber. In Pennsylvania, it seldom rears:
more than one brood in the season ; but in the Texas, I have reason to
"brieve that it raised two.
The flight of this bird, when, it has settled in a place, usually' of
short extent. The male!, while passing tp and fro from the jfef, exhibits
a quivering motion of the wings!' The female seldom shews t his,
unless when her property is in danger from intruders. While travelling,
which tlie'y always do by day, they pasl high over ffie tefeii >«
flocks of thirty or forty, which suddenly alight at the approach of night,
and throw themselves into the most thickly-loaveei trees, wlioro they
repose until dawn I have surprised them in such situations both in
Kentucky and in Louisiana, and on shooting inff the place to which
they had betaken themselves, although I could not see them, have procured
several at o ® discharge ; Which proved in one instance to he
males, and in the other females, t tos shewing that the sele's travel sir1
BLACK'THROATED BUNTING. 581
paratejly. On such, occasion», the survivors would sally forth, make a
few rapid evolutions, and alight on the same tree.
In spring, J-lave; .found them, on two or three occasions, near Natchez,
in the State of Mississippi, in meadows, in company with Bob-olinks,
J'hnberK'i Oruzivora. On the ground they leap or hop, but never
walk. Their flesh is gqod, especially that of the young birds.
Kmiikbiza Amkru:a.na, jtafc vol. i. p. 872. /.istf. JrA. Ornith. vol. i.
p.
Bxack-throated lSt:\Trs«, Emreriza Americana, Wik. Amer. Ornith; vol. i.
p. ¡>4, pi. 2;ihaie.
t'*HiK(i ii.i.a Amirioasa,- (Mi£om%<wte,®pt6ps!s ofBirds of United. gtate8,,p. 107.
Black thboatko Bun-tin^, yuii-jll, At laj, vol. i. p. 461.
Adult Male. 1 Plate CCCLXXXIV. Fig, 1.
Bill of' moderate length, stout, conical, compressed toward the end ;
•upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly decimate and convex, the?
ridge indistinct, the sides convex, the edges a little, inflected, ascending
to beneath tho nostrils, then deseendin|Ewith a slight notch close
to the narrow t ip: low er mandible with the angle short and wide, the
dorsal line ascending and very slightly convex, the ridge broad at the
base, the sides convex, the edges ascending a t the base, then straight
and involute to the end, the tip tmrrrnv. Nostrils basal, roundish in
the fore part of the very short and wide nasal depression.
Head largo, ovate.; neck very short; body r a t h e r stout. Feet of
moderate length, rather strong; tarsus of ordinary length, compressed,
with/seyp anterior scutella, thin-edged behind; toes rather large ¡ the
hind one strong and longer than fie; lateral, which are equal, the third
much longer, aiul united to the fourth at the base. Claws long,, arched,
much compressed; acute.
Plumage soft, and blended, but firm. Wings Of moderate length,
acute ; the first quill longest, the second slightly shorter, the other primaries
graduated; secandariiSsislightly emarginate. Tail of moderate
length, emarginate, of twelve rather narrow, obliquely pointed feathers.
Bill light blue ; iris hazel;,. feet light brownish-red, claws of the
same colour. The upper part,of the head, the cheeks and the hind
neck are ash-grey, the feathers on the head with a central blackish
streak ; loral space, a band over the eye; and. a. shorter one beneath it,