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bunting1
/bun"ting/, n.1. a coarse, open fabric of worsted or cotton for flags, signals, etc.2. patriotic and festive decorations made from such cloth, or from paper, usually in the form of draperies, wide streamers, etc., in the colors of the national flag.3. flags, esp. a vessel's flags, collectively.bunting2/bun"ting/, n.any of several small, chiefly seed-eating birds of the genera Emberiza, Passerina, and Plectrophenax. Cf. indigo bunting, reed bunting, snow bunting.[1250-1300; ME < ?]bunting3/bun"ting/, n.a hooded sleeping garment for infants. Also called sleeper.[1920-25; special use of BUNTING1]
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Common name for any of about 37 Old World species (genus Emberiza) of finch, as well as certain similar species found in the New World.All belong to the family Fringillidae, and many are recognizable by strongly patterned heads or bright colours. Emberiza species are seed eaters that commonly breed in temperate Eurasia and from northern Africa to India. The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) breeds in the far north, and the lark bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) inhabits the U.S. Great Plains. U.S. species include the indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) and the painted bunting (P. ciris). The male painted bunting, with red, green, and blue feathers, is the most colourful bird that breeds in the U.S.
Painted bunting (Passerina ciris)Donald D. Burgess from E.R. DeggingerEB Inc.* * *
▪ birdany of a number of species of seed-eating birds (bird) of the family Emberizidae in the Old World genus Emberiza and also a number of American species in two other genera, Passerina and Plectrophenax. In some species, males are very brightly coloured.The Old World buntings are a group of more than 35 species in Europe, Asia, and Africa. They include the colourful yellow-breasted bunting (Emberiza aureola), widespread across Siberia and northeastern Europe, and the reed bunting (E. schoeniclus), a chunky bird common to marshes across Europe and Asia.The white buntings of the genus Plectrophenax are hardy songbirds (songbird) of the Arctic. They include the snow bunting (P. nivalis), sometimes called “snowflake,” as their flocks seem to swirl through the air and then settle on winter fields. The whitest North American songbird, McKay's bunting (P. hyperboreus), nests on the remote Bering Sea islands of St. Matthew and Hall.The most brightly coloured buntings belong to the New World genus Passerina in the subfamily Cardinalinae. They live in areas of dense bush, but the males perch in the open to sing their musical territorial songs. The bright blue male indigo bunting (P. cyanea) is a conspicuous bird along eastern American roadsides; the drab brown female hides among thickets and incubates the eggs. The painted bunting (P. ciris), native to the American Southeast, is sometimes called the “nonpareil” because of the male's unrivaled colouring—indigo head and neck, scarlet breast, and lemon back.Sy Montgomery* * *
Universalium. 2010.
