8o THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



through the cheeks, gorget and belly white, the upper parts and 

 the throat are brown and chestnut, streaked with black. The 

 chestnut is richest on the rump and tail-coverts. In winter the 

 white is more or less obscured by brown, and the chestnut 

 mottled with white. The bill and irides are brown, the legs 

 yellowish brown. The female, greyer above and paler below, 

 has no chestnut on the throat. Length, 6-6 ins. Wing, yS^ 

 ins. Tarsus, '75 in. 



Cirl Bunting. Emberiza cirlus Linn. 



The Cirl Bunting (Plate 35) is a southern European and 

 Mediterranean species ; its northern range extends to the more 

 southerly parts of Britain. It nests locally in the south of 

 England and in Wales so far as the north coast, and has nested 

 in Yorkshire ; records of breeding in Lancashire and Cheshire 

 require verification. Further north and in Scotland and Ireland 

 it only occurs as an occasional wanderer. 



The bird may be distinguished from the Yellow Hammer, 

 which it resembles in many ways, by its smaller size and 

 more squat appearance, by the olive-green on the head, and 

 brown rump, and, in the male, by the black chin and throat 

 and stripe through the eye. It is more of a tree-frequenting 

 species ; it often sings from the upper branches of a tall tree, 

 where the leaves conceal it, but it will also perch on a bush or, 

 like the Corn-Bunting, a telegraph wire. The description of 

 the song as resembling the chitter of the Yellow Hammer with- 

 out the usual ending is misleading ; the notes, though fairly 

 rapidly repeated, are clear, distinct and metallic ; the song is 

 not unlike the rattle of the Lesser Whitethroat. When singing 

 the bird throws up its head and opens wide its mandibles ; it 

 sings late, and may be heard in September. Its drooping 

 flight is that of a true bunting ; when rising with Linnets or 

 other finches it is easily picked out. The food consists of 



