Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/446

 440 BUNTING neck, and cheeks dark ash-gray; streak over eye and lower mandible, lower neck, and middle of the breast yellow; chin white, throat black, sides gray, abdomen white, and lesser wing coverts bright chestnut ; length 6J inches; female without the black on the throat. This bird arrives in the New England states from the south about the middle of May, and returns early in September, spending the winter beyond the limits of the United States ; it consumes caterpillars, insects, and immense numbers of cankerworms early in the summer ; it also eats seeds of various grasses. The nest is made on the ground, and the eggs are five, white, speckled with black. Birds of this genus are found also in Asia, Europe, and South America; they frequent bushes and open cultivated fields, seeking their food on the ground; there are about 12 species de- scribed. The genus einberiza (Linn.), of which familiar species are E. hortulana and E. mi- liaria, contains about 30 species, scattered over the old and new world, especially the former ; on the approach of winter they collect in flocks, in which they remain until spring ; their habits are the same as those of the preceding genus. (See OETOLAN.) The genus plectrophanes (Mey- er) contains four species, among which are the snow bunting (P. nivalis, Linn.), and the Lap- land lark bunting (P. Lapponicus, Linn.), re- Lark Bunting (Plectrophanes Lapponicus). markable for their long hind toe and very long and nearly straight claw. In winter they live in temperate Europe and North America, going to the far north in spring to breed ; they asso- ciate in flocks in open mountainous districts, running quickly on the ground in search of seeds, alpine fruits, and insects; the nest is made in fissures of rocks or on grassy hillocks. Other fringillidce, as many species of sparrows and finches, are in various localities called buntings. BUNTI1VG, Jabez, D.D., an English clergyman, born in Manchester, May 13, 1779, died June 15, 1858. He was of humble parentage, was educated in the grammar school of Manchester, and became a pupil of Dr. Percival, a physician BUNYAN of that town. In his 16th year he joined tlio Wesleyan church, at the age of 19 began to preach, and in 1799 was received into the con- ference. He spent eight years in Manchester, five in Liverpool, and about 33 in various po- sitions in London. His legal mind and powers of broad generalization made him the legisla- tive leader of his connection. To him more than to any other single person were due the conception and realization of the most impor- tant measures of the Wesleyan church. Ho was the first to introduce laymen into the management of the missionary affairs of the church, and also into the district meetings ; and it was chiefly by his earnest advocacy that the association of laymen with the clergy on connectional committees having the charge of financial interests was recognized as a prin- ciple of Wesleyan polity. He was the first man elected by nomination to the "Legal Hun- dred," was their secretary ten terms, and was chosen president of the conference four times. To Ms sagacity and earnestness were largely due the efficiency and success of the Wesleyan missionary society, whose secretary he was for 18 years. At the foundation of the Wes- leyan theological school, in 1834, Dr. Bunting was appointed its president, and he remained in this office until his death. Next after Wes- ley, Ooke, and Asbury, Dr. Bunting was the master spirit in settling the ecclesiastical, mis- sionary, and educational policy of the Wesley- an church- of England. His posthumous " Ser- mons " (2 vols. 12mo) appeared in 1861. His life, edited by his son, was begun several years since, but only one volume has appeared. W YI/I.AI. See BUNZLAU. BIHVTAJf, John, an English preacher, born at Elstow, near Bedford, in 1628, died in London, Aug. 81, 1688. His father was a tinker, and brought up his son to the same trade, giving him a very imperfect education. The early biographers of Bunyan attribute to him an idle, vagrant, and dissolute -youth; but, although later writers have gone to the other extreme in exaggerating his virtues, the adverse com- ments on his early life were due in a great de- gree to Bunyan's own strain of self-condem- nation. In after years, when he was made the subject of obloquy and accused of the very vices which he had laid to his own charge, he indignantly defended himself. There is no good reason to believe that his early manhood was stained with gross immorality, and his autobiography, " Grace abounding to the Chief of Sinners," shows that he only adopts the ex- travagant style of the Puritans. He acknowl- edges a habit of profane swearing, but says that he was cured of this by a single well-timed rebuke. He appears to have been very fond of playing at tip-cat and dancing on the village green, as well as ringing the church bells. All these amusements he in time came to look upon as sinful, and bemoaned as if he had committed irreparable evil. At the age of 17 he enlisted in the parliamentary army, but all that is