198 OUR FAVOURITE SONG BIRDS 



eggs are four or five in number, bluish or very 

 pale greenish-white in ground-colour, spotted and 

 streaked in the usual Bunting style with very dark 

 liver- brown. Two broods appear to be reared in 

 the year, the breeding season lasting from April or 

 May to July. 



The food of the Cirl Bunting is composed of 

 insects and larvae and small seeds in summer, 

 and seeds and grain of various kinds in winter. 

 Montagu remarked that the young are largely fed 

 on grasshoppers, and it may be that the presence 

 or absence of this insect in certain districts to a 

 great extent determines the distribution of the Cirl 

 Bunting. The usual call-note of this species is a 

 shrill tsip or tsit monotonously repeated, sometimes 

 in quick succession, sometimes more deliberately. 



The Cirl Bunting is very similar to the Yellow 

 Bunting in general appearance, but differs from it in 

 the following important respects. The head and 

 nape are olive-green, the feathers of the former with 

 black centres ; the rump and upper tail coverts are 

 also olive-green with dusky brown streaks ; there 

 are also yellow stripes above and below the eye ; 

 whilst from the base of the bill to and beyond the 

 eye is a dark brown stripe ; the smaller wing-coverts 

 are olive-green. The throat is black, below which 

 is a broad patch of yellow ; the breast is olive-green 

 shading into chestnut ; the remainder of the under 

 parts are yellow, darker on the flanks which are 



