2ro YELLOW BUXTIXG. 



though said to occur in the Canaries. In Palestine, according to 

 Canon Tristram, its place is taken by a very distinct species, E. cassia, 

 which occasionally wanders to Heligoland ; where, by the way, the 

 Yellow Bunting is common on migration in spring and autumn. 



The nest, constructed of dry grasses and a little moss, with a 

 lining of finer material and hair, is usually placed on or near the 

 ground, in the side of a bank, or among tangled herbage ; but 

 often it is built in a bush, and in plantations of young spruces ; 

 while exceptionally at a height of seven feet. The well-known 

 eggs, 4-5 in number, are subject to considerable variation in 

 shade of colour, but as a rule they are purplish-white, streaked, 

 spotted and clouded with reddish-purple, and scrawled with long 

 hair-like markings, from which, in some parts, the bird has acquired 

 the name of "Writing Lark": measurements "85 by -6t, in. Incu- 

 bation, in which the male takes part, lasts fourteen days, and at least 

 two broods are produced in the year ; the first eggs being laid about 

 the middle of April, while nestlings are not uncommon in Septem- 

 ber. The Cuckoo not infrequently deposits its egg in the nest of this 

 species. The familiar song, often rendered as ' Little-bit-of-bread- 

 and no cheese,' may be heard from morning till night during the 

 hottest weather, and even on bright days in winter. In summer 

 both young and old feed largely on insects ; in autumn they are 

 partial to blackberries and other wild fruits ; while seeds and grain 

 form their principal sustenance in winter, at which season large flocks 

 frequent stubble-fields and even farm-yards. During severe weather 

 the late Mr. Booth observed a flock feeding on the carcase of a horse 

 hung up at some kennels, in Perthshire. In many places this pretty 

 Bunting has been displaced by the House-Sparrow. 



The adult male has the throat and head lemon-yellow, streaked 

 with dusky-brown, especially above and behind each eye ; feathers 

 of the mantle, coverts, and secondaries reddish-brown with blackish 

 central stripes ; quills dusky-brown with narrow yellowish margins ; 

 rump and tail-coverts chestnut ; tail-feathers chiefly dark brown, with 

 elongated white patches on the lower portions of the two outer pairs : 

 under parts lemon-yellow, with dusky chestnut streaks on the breast 

 and flanks ; bill bluish : legs light brown. Length 6-5 in. ; wing 

 3 "3 5 in. In autumn the colours are duller, owing to the pale 

 margins of the new feathers. The female is less yellow and more 

 streaked with brown, while the chestnut tints are nearly absent. 

 The young are much streaked on the under parts, and show no 

 vellow until after their first moult. 



