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Emberizidae:
The Emberizidae are a large family of passerine birds.
They are seed-eating birds with a distinctively shaped bill. In Europe, most species are named as buntings. The Emberizidae family probably originated in South America and spread first into North America before crossing into eastern Asia and continuing to move west. This explains the paucity of emberizid species in Europe and Africa when compared to the Americas. In North America, most of the species in this family are known as Sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the Old World sparrows which are in the family Passeridae. The family also includes the North American birds known as juncos and towhees. Their habits are similar to those of finches, with which they sometimes used to be grouped. Older sources may place some emberizids in the Fringillidae, and the common names of some emberizids still refer to them as finches. Many emberizid species have distinctive head patterns. |
