186 B U N T I N G .
23-
Var. A.
L ’Ortolan a ventre jaune du Cap de Bonne Efperance, Buf. oij, iii. p. 326.—
PI. ml. 664. f. 2. (the male), f. 1. (the female, or a young bird).
Description. J E N G T H fix inches and a quarter. Bill duflky : top of the
bead and fides yellowilh white : over the eye from the noftrils
an arched ftripe of black j behind the eye a fecond; and from
the lower mandible another, quite irregular, palling in the direction
of the jaw, and uniting at the back part with thé two
others, wholly furrounding the fide of the head : at the nape is
a patch of the fame colour: the lower part of the neck and
back are brown j the feathers margined with paler brown: the
rump grey : all the under parts yellow, inclining to red on the
breaft, and verging to white at the chin and vent: the lefier
wing coverts cinereous ; the middle ones white ; and the greater
black, with rufous margins : quills black, bordered with white,
but thofenext the body have the edges rufous: the tail appears
forked, and each of the bifurcations is cuneiform in itfelf,
as the outer and inner feathers of both parts are fomewhat
Ihorter than the others; the two middle feathers are dulky
brown, the others dulky with pale edges, and fome of the outer
ones are tipped with white : the legs are pale flefh-colour. This,
is fuppofed to be the male.
23.
VX». B.
Description. r jpH E other figUfe his the upper parts rufous brown: the:
middle of the feathers dulky : the rump afh-colour : the middle
of the wing rufous longitudinally the whole way from the
bend : the under parts of the body dirty white: the head is not
black, but only two black ftreaks on the fides, the on?.behind
the
................. B U N I N i *7
the eye and beneath it, the other in the direétion of the under
jaw : the tail wholly brown, edged with rufous.
T Likewife obferve a third figured in the Flanches Enluminées *,
which has great refemblance to the laft. The top of the
head has a mixture of black and grey, and two ftreaks of black
in the fame places as in the laft bird, but rather broader ; the
upper parts more inclined to rufous : fides of the head grey :
under parts of the body dirty white, marked with a mixture of
cinereous on the fore part of the neck : fides of the body pale
rufous : tail as in the laft bird ; the under part of it cinereous :
legs pale yellow.
This bird, Buffon fays, is common alfo at Cayenne, where it
is called Bonjour-commandeur f , from its cuftom of finging at
day-break ; and is very common about inhabited places -, has a
note almoft like a Sparrow ; found often on the ground, and for
the moft part two and two together.
I cannot confider the three laft-defcribed but as mere varieties,
and, in all probability, of the Cape fpecies likewife s but nothing
more than conjedture can be had about them, as their manners
are not known.
O I Z E of a Bunting. Bill flelh-coloured : noftrils covered with
fmall tufts of feathers : on the cheeks, and beneath the bill,
other tufts : head pale brown: back, wings, and breaft, the fame,
fpotted with darker brown: belly white: quills and tail brown,
barred with deep brown : legs rofe-colour: hind claw long, and
fcarcely curved.'
• N° 386. f. 2. f Hift. dei oif. iv. p. 3%.
B b 2 Inhabits
*3-
V ar. C.
D escription.
*4.
BARRED-TAIL
B.
D escription.