- House Bunting
Taxobox
name = House Bunting
status =
image_width = 240px
image_caption = Adult, Morocco
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo =Passeriformes
familia =Emberizidae
genus = "Emberiza "
species = "E. sahari"
binomial = "Emberiza sahari"
binomial_authority = Levaillant, 1850The House Bunting, "Emberiza sahari", is a
passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae.It is a resident breeder of dry country from northwestern
Africa fromMorocco south toMali and east toChad .Byers, C., Olsson, U., & Curson, J. (1995). "Buntings and Sparrows". Pica Press ISBN 1-873403-19-4.] The House Bunting breeds around human habitation, laying 2–4 eggs in a nest in a hole in a wall or building. Its natural food consists of insects when feeding young, and otherwise seeds.It is 14cm long, similar in size to the
Striolated Bunting and smaller than theRock Bunting . The breeding male has a sandy orange-brown body and a grey head slightly dark-streaked but without the white supercilium that the Striolated Bunting has. The female's head has a brown tint to the grey, and more diffused streaking.The House Bunting has recently been split from the closely related Striolated Bunting, [Collinson, M. (2006). Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palearctic lists. "British Birds" 99 (6): 306-323.] [Kirwan, Guy M. and
Hadoram Shirihai (2007) Species limits in the House Bunting complex "Dutch Birding " 29(1): 1-19] of which it used to be treated as a subspecies, "Emberiza striolata sahari". The Striolated Bunting has stronger facial striping and a paler belly than the House Bunting.The incubation period of the clutch of 3 eggs is noted as 12–14 days.
The song, given from a perch, is similar to, but weaker than, that of the
Chaffinch .In Morocco, the species is traditionally regarded as sacred, and has become very tame, freely entering and feeding inside houses, shops and mosques.Snow, D. W. & Perrins, C. M. (1998). "
The Birds of the Western Palearctic " Concise Edition. OUP ISBN 0-19-854099-X.]References
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