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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BUN-CAL |
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BUNTING , properly the common English name of the bird called by Linnaeus Emberiza miliaria, but now used in a general sense for all members of the family Emberizidae, which are closely allied to the finches (Fringillidae), though, in Professor W.. K. Parker's opinion , to be easily distinguished therefrom the Emberizidae possessing what none of the Fringillidae do, an additional pair of palatal bones, " palato-maxillaries." It will probably follow from this diagnosis that some forms of birds, particularly those of the New World, which have hitherto been commonly assigned to the latter, really belong to the former, and among them the genera Cardinalis and Phrygilus. The additional palatal bones just named are also found in several other peculiarly American families, namely, Tanagridae, Icteridae and Mniotiltidaewhence it may be perhaps inferred that the Emberizudae are of Transatlantic origin. The buntings generally may be also outwardly distinguished from the finches by their angular gape, the posterior portion of which is greatly deflected; and most of the Old-World forms, together with some of those of the New World, have a bony knob on the palatea swollen outgrowth of the dentary edges of the bill. Correlated with this peculiarity the maxilla usually has the tomia sinuated, and is generally concave, and smaller and narrower than the mandible, which is also concave to receive the palatal knob. In most other respects the buntings greatly resemble the finches, but their eggs are generally distinguishable by the irregular hair -like markings on the shell. In the British Islands by far the commonest species of bunting is the yellow-hammer
south
resident
Scotland , but the majority of the examples which visit us come from northern regions, for it is a species which in summer inhabits the whole circumpolar area. The ortolan (E. hortulana), so highly prized for its delicate flavour, occasionally appears in England,but the British Islands seem to lie outside its proper range. On the continent of Europe, in Africa and throughout Asia
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