1G4 THE SIFALLER BrdTIHU BIRBB. 



and ■win'Ts are reddish brown, and the quill and tail feathers dusky 

 black margined with chesnnt browu and olive. The bill is a bluish 

 horn-colour. The irides are dark brown, and the legs, toes, and claws 

 light yellowish brown, tinged with red. The female is much duller in 

 colour than the male, and is less marked with yellow. The young, 

 wlion first fledged, ar-^ dull yellowish brown abo%'o and yellowish grey 

 beneath, they are without the bright yellow on tlie head 



THE CIRL BUNTING, 



{Emheriza ciilus.J 

 PLATE X. — FIGURE VI. 



This rare species bears a strong resemblance to the Yellow Bunting, 

 and no doubt sometimes escai^es observation in consequence. It was 

 first identified and described as a British bird by Colonel Montagu 

 in the year 1830, from specimens observed in the neighbourhood of 

 Knightsbridge, and in the following summer the same distinguished 

 ornithologist discovered that it bred in several localities on -the coast 

 of Devonshire, and communicated his observations as to its habits, etc., 

 to the Linnean Society. Individuals have sine been met with in 

 various parts of England, most of them in the southern counties, but 

 some as far north as Yorkshire. In Scotland a single specimen was 

 procured near Edinburgh. It is a migratory bird in most of the 

 temperate and southern parts of Europe, and occurs also in Asia 

 Minor. 



Mr. Blyth, who has carefully observed the habits of this bird in 

 the Islo of Wight, where it is known as the French Yellow-hammer, 

 says it is much more shy than the Yellow Bunting, and frequents 

 trees rather than hedges, particularly the summits of lofty elms. 



The nest is usually placed in furze or low bushes, and is composed 

 of dry stalks of grass and a little mosa, and lined with long hair and 

 fibrous roots. The eggs, four or five in number, are of a dull bluish 

 or greenish white, irregularly streaked and spotted with reddish brown, 

 they vary greatly both in colour and markings. The young are hatched 

 in a little over a fortnight, and are fed by the parents exclusively on 

 insects. 



