House bunting
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The house bunting (Emberiza sahari) is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae.
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It is a resident breeder of dry country from northwestern Africa from Morocco south to Mali and east to Chad.<ref name=byers>Byers, C., Olsson, U., & Curson, J. (1995). Buntings and Sparrows. Pica Press Template:ISBN.</ref> In Morocco, the species has expanded from the Atlas Mountains northwards since the 1960s, and has recently reached Tangier <ref>Amezian M., Bensusan K., Perez C. & Thompson I. 2006. Is House Bunting about to colonise Europe? Birding World 19: 263.</ref> and Tétouan <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The house bunting bred in Europe for the first time in 2023, in Algericas in southern Spain.<ref name = BirdGuides>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The house bunting breeds around human habitation, laying two to four eggs in a nest in a hole in a wall or building. Its natural food consists seeds, or when feeding young, insects.<ref name = snow/>
It is 14 cm long, similar in size to the striolated bunting and smaller than the rock 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.<ref name = B&M/>
The house bunting has recently been split from the closely related striolated bunting,<ref>Collinson, M. (2006). Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palearctic lists. British Birds 99 (6): 306-323.</ref><ref>Kirwan, Guy M. and Hadoram Shirihai (2007) Species limits in the House Bunting complex Dutch Birding 29(1): 1-19</ref> 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.<ref name=byers/>
The incubation period of the clutch of three eggs is 12–14 days.<ref name=byers/>
The song, given from a perch, is similar to but weaker than that of the common chaffinch.<ref name = B&M>Template:Cite book</ref>
In Morocco, the species is traditionally regarded as sacred, and has become very tame, freely entering and feeding inside houses, shops and mosques.<ref name=snow>Snow, D. W. & Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic Concise Edition. OUP Template:ISBN.</ref>