no The Corx-Bunting 



Scotland it occurs most generally on the western lowlands during the summer, but 

 becomes much commoner in the Eastern districts during the winter ; westwards 

 its range extends to St. Kilda, and northwards to the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland 

 it is local, but common in suitable districts. In October flocks of Corn-Buntings 

 migrate to our .shores, considerably adding to the numbers of our home-bred birds. 



The adult male Corn- Bunting has the feathers of the upper surface pale 

 brown, with blackish central streaks , the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries 

 dark brown, bordered with warm buff and with whitish tips ; quills dai'k smoky- 

 brown, the first primary- with j-elluwish margin to the outer web ; tail blackish- 

 brown, with pale edges to the feathers ; lores and a superciliary line buffish-white ; 

 under parts buffish-white, the throat sparsel}' spotted with black, and separated 

 from the cheeks by a moustachial line of dark-brown spots ; breast numerously 

 marked with triangular black dashes, which are somewhat rufescent at the sides ; 

 centre of breast and abdomen whitish, sides streaked with dark-brown ; beak with 

 the upper mandible dark horn-brown, edged with 3-ellow ; lower mandible oclire- 

 3'ellow ; feet pale flesh-brownish ; iris hazel. The female is slightly smaller than 

 the male, and grej-er in colouring. The young are more richly coloured, the 

 wing-coverts and secondaries more prominently bordered with fulvous, the spotting 

 blacker and the under parts tinged with buff. After the autumn moult the adult 

 birds are generally more rufescent than in summer. 



Owing to its sombre colouring and its habit of roosting on the ground, this 

 species has sometimes been mistaken for a Lark, and in autumn and winter it is 

 frequently netted in company with Skylarks : possibly for this reason it often 

 receives the name of Bunting-Lark. 



The Corn-Bunting chiefly haunts open and cultivated districts, more especially 

 where cereals are freely grown. It is not a nervous bird, and I have frequeutl}' 

 stood within a few yards criticizing its ungainlj' figure and miserable apolog}^ for 

 a song as it sat perched upon a scraggy bush, stump, or fence, apparently quite 

 satisfied with its performance : the latter has been variously described ; but, to 

 those not acquainted with the songs of some of the Marsh Troupials of the New 

 World, or the Abyssinian and Rufous-necked Weavers (which have the same 

 character, though more prolonged and varied) the most accurate idea of the discord 

 is conveyed, by saying that it resembles the sound made by crushing broken glass 

 in a mortar. Seebohm describes the song as '' kis, tcis, /ccs, tis-is-is-s-s-r-r-rc,'" 

 Howard Saunders as ''■tk-tic-tccsc,'' Lord Lilford as "tedious and rasping notes." 



Seebohm observes that "the ordinary call-note of this bird is very loud, and 

 resembles the word tzit ; the note between the sexes is a long drawn-out kaak, and 

 frequently the two notes are heard together tsit-kaak^ 



