Small in size (approximately from the sparrow ) are relatively long-tailed birds, systematically close to finch birds, from which they differ in a thinner beak compressed from the sides, usually not swollen at the base. Most oatmeal have a fairly dense build, medium-long wings, legs and tail. The shape of the beak and the structure of the jaw apparatus vary depending on the parameters of the main feed. Length 10-25 cm, weight 10-60 g. Coloring is varied, without bright colors and brilliance. For oatmeal, atypical complex melodic songs [1] .
Inhabit a variety of habitats: steppes, forest-steppes, tundra, forests. In the forest zone they live along the edges, clearings, burnt areas, forest glades. In the mountains they rise to subalpine meadows up to an altitude of 5000 m. Often they settle in a man-modified landscape. Most tropical species of oatmeal saddles; in temperate latitudes - migratory and nomadic. Distributed mainly in the Western Hemisphere, considered their homeland. In the Eastern Hemisphere only 55 species from 5-10 genera nest. In Russia, 26-27 species from 7 genera nest; 13 more species fly irregularly, mainly from North America [1] .
Oatmeal monogamous [2] . Many species have 2 breeding cycles per year (up to 4 in the tropics). Cup nests made of herbs and other plant fibers are well camouflaged on the ground (in the bushes) or low (up to 1.5 m) above the ground, in crevices of rocks or under stones, etc. Tropical species have 2-4 eggs in clutch, in species of temperate latitudes more often 5-7 eggs. Hatching lasts 1-2 weeks, chicks hatch blind, with tufts of fluff on their back and head [1] . The oatmeal diet consists mainly of seeds, but during feeding of the cubs (the first 8-16 days), parents feed them with insects [2] .
Like a number of other groups of passerine birds, the oatmeal family is currently under revision. Oatmeal include more than 50 genera, about 230 species. The IUCN Red List contains 14 species. Sometimes the family also includes cardinals, tanagra, woodcuts, corpses and other close groups of American passerines. Less commonly, they are combined with finch [1] .
According to genetic studies carried out in recent years, several genera of birds from South and Central America are closely related to the tanagra [3] [4] [5] , and at least one tanagra genus, Chlorospingus , can belong to the oatmeal family [6] . Previously, plantains and buntings were included in the family, however, a 2008 phylogenetic study led by the Alstrom group confirmed that representatives of this family form a separate treasure from oatmeal. [7] . Alstrom’s group proposed placing the birds in the Calcariini tribe [7] , but the International Union of Ornithologists singled them out as a separate Calcariidae family in 2010 [8] .
As of July 5, 2017, the American Ornithological Society considered the New World oatmeal genera to be separated from the Emberizidae family and allocated them to its own family [9] .
Old World
Swedish scientists from the National Museum of the History of Nature ( Swede. Naturhistoriska riksmuseet ) on the basis of their biochemical analyzes in 2008 proposed to include all species of the genera Melophus , Latoucheornis and Miliaria in the genus Emberiza [10] .
- Crested Melophus ( Melophus ) Swainson, 1837
- Blue Lats ( Latoucheornis ) Bangs, 1931
- Real Buntings ( Emberiza ) Linnaeus , 1758
- Milaria ( Miliaria ) Brehm, 1831
American Buntings
- Aremons ( Arremon ) Vieillot 1816
- Ridgway ( Arremonops ) Ridgway 1896
- Bunting Chiapa ( Melozone ) Reichenbach, 1850
- Taui ( Pipilo ) Vieillot, 1816
- Aimophila ( Aimophila ) Swainson, 1837
- Striped Orythuris ( Oriturus ) Bonaparte , 1850
- Cuban Buntings ( Torreornis ) Barbour & Peters, 1927
- Sparrow Buntings ( Spizella ) Bonaparte, 1832
- Black Buntings ( Pooecetes ) SF Baird, 1858
- Hondes ( Chondestes ) Swainson, 1827
- Desert Buntings ( Amphispiza ) Coues, 1874
- Lark Buntings ( Calamospiza ) Bonaparte, 1838
- Savannah Buntings ( Ammodramus ) Bonaparte, 1838
- Variegated Buntings ( Passerella ) Swainson, 1837
- Mexican Buntings ( Xenospiza ) Bangs, 1931
- Melospiza Baird, 1858
- Gray-skinned Buntings ( Zonotrichia ) Swainson, 1832
- Junco Wagler, 1831
Neotropic Buntings
- Atlapetes ( Wapler ), 1831
- Buarremon Bonaparte, 1850
- Olive reels ( Lysurus ) Ridgway, 1898
- Shaggy Buntings ( Pselliophorus ) Ridgway, 1898
- Big- legged Buntings ( Pezopetes ) Cabanis, 1861
Other birth
The remaining genera, traditionally belonging to the oatmeal family, are listed below. Apparently they have a closer relationship with the tanagra :
- Coots ( Amaurospiza ) Cabanis, 1853
- Pointed Buntings ( Acanthidops ) Ridgway, 1882
- Wood reels ( Camarhynchus ) John Gould, 1837
- Catamenia Bonaparte, 1850
- Warble reels ( Certhidea ) Gould, 1837
- Dwarf Buntings Cardinals ( Charitospiza ) Oberholser, 1905
- Banana Singer ( Coereba ) Vieillot, 1809 (Sometimes regarded as a genus of the monotypic flower family)
- Black-faced Buntings ( Coryphaspiza ) GR Gray, 1840
- Crown Buntings ( Coryphospingus ) Cabanis, 1851
- Hookbills ( Diglossa ) Cabanis, 1851
- Diglossopis PL Sclater, 1856
- Diuca ( Reuchenbach , 1850)
- Chaffinch Buntings ( Dolospingus ) Elliot, 1871
- White-faced Buntings ( Donacospiza ) Cabanis, 1851
- Tyrant Buntings ( Emberizoides ) Temminck, 1822
- Plain Buntings ( Embernagra ) Lesson, 1831
- Jamaican Sugar Tanagra ( Euneornis ) Fitzinger, 1856
- Earth reels ( Geospiza ) Gould, 1837
- Green Bunting Cardinals ( Gubernatrix ) Lesson, 1837
- Dark Buntings ( Haplospiza ) Cabanis, 1851
- Short-tailed Idiopsar ( Idiopsar ) Cassin, 1867
- Inca Buntings ( Incaspiza ) Ridgway, 1898
- Crested reels ( Lophospingus ) Cabanis, 1878
- Bullfinch Buntings ( Loxigilla ) Lesson, 1831
- Crossbill Buntings ( Loxipasser ) H. Bryant, 1866
- Melanodera ( Melanodera ) Bonaparte, 1850
- Black Caribbean Buntings ( Melanospiza ) Ridgway, 1897
- Black Cuban Buntings ( Melopyrrha ) Bonaparte, 1853
- Island Buntings ( Nesospiza ) Cabanis, 1873
- Rice Buntings ( Oryzoborus ) Cabanis, 1851
- Cardinal Buntings ( Paroaria ) Bonaparte, 1832
- Buntings ( Phrygilus ) Cabanis, 1844
- Gray reels ( Piezorhina ) Lafresnaye, 1843
- Coconut Reels ( Pinaroloxias ) Sharpe, 1885
- Tit Buntings ( Poospiza ) Cabanis, 1847
- Red-black Buntings ( Rhodospingus ) Sharpe, 1888
- Gough Goose Buntings ( Rowettia ) Lowe, 1923
- Multicolor Chaco ( Saltatricula ) Burmeister, 1861
- Sicalis ( Sicalis ) F. Boie, 1828
- Reel Buntings ( Sporophila ) Cabanis, 1844
- Tiaris ( Tiaris ) Swainson, 1827
- Yakarins ( Volatinia ) Reichenbach, 1850
- Thin-billed Buntings ( Xenospingus ) Cabanis, 1867
