Albania (B), Algeria, Andorra (B) (NB), Austria (B) (NB), Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Bulgaria (B) (NB), Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B) (NB), France (B) (NB) (P), Germany (B), Gibraltar, Greece (B) (NB), Hungary (B), Italy (B) (NB) (P), Liechtenstein (B), Luxembourg (E) (B), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Montenegro (B), Morocco, Portugal (B) (NB), Romania (B) (NB), San Marino (B), Serbia (B), Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Spain (B) (NB), Switzerland (B) (NB), Tunisia, Turkey (B) (NB), United Kingdom (B) (NB).
Vagrant to Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (E), Ireland, Malta, Netherlands Antilles, Poland, Ukraine.
Introduced to New Zealand (B).
Temperate areas of western and southern Europe, north-western Africa and Turkey: south-western England and north-western and central France east to Romania and coastal western and northern Turkey, south to Morocco, coastal Algeria and north-western Tunisia, and to Mediterranean islands of Balearics, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Crete.Introduced to New Zealand (South Island).
Population
Estimated population is 6,000,000 - 16,000,000 (2010).
Recent phylogenetic analysis suggests that this species may form an independent subclade within a clade shared with Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), Pine Bunting (Emberiza leucocephalos) and White-capped Bunting (Emberiza stewarti), but with weak support under different analytic approaches.
Proposed subspecies nigrostriata (described from Ghisonaccia, in Corsica) and portucaliae (from Oporto region, in Portugal) considered to exhibit only very slight differences from birds in rest of range, and not sufficient to merit naming of geographical subspecies.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
cirlus Linnaeus, 1766 - Southern Europe and north-western Africa.
nigrostriata Schiebel, 1910 - Corsica and Sardinia.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet