ii8 Tin-: Ciki, Buxtixg 



Kent ; and even after Mr. Bidwell had reeogni/.ed in my eollcctiou a cluteli of 

 eggs of this species, which I had taken at Iwade, near Sheppy, ou Jnnc 5th, 1877, 

 as being nuqnestionably those of R. cir/us (a fact which, I believe, I promptly 

 recorded in the "Zoologist") the same statement was repeated, until the appear- 

 ance of Howard Saunders' Manual in i<S8(S. It has, however, been found breeding 

 as far northward as Yorkshire, but it is of accidental occurrence at any season 

 either in the midlands or the northern counties.* In Scotland it has occurred as 

 a chance straggler, but its recorded occurrence in Ireland was formerly questioned. 



The adult male Cirl Bunting has the crown and nape olive-green, longitudinall}^ 

 streaked with dull black; the rump and upper tail-coverts olivaceous; the sides 

 of the head blackish-olive, with a lemon-j-ellow stripe above, and a second below 

 the eye, from the base of the beak to the neck ; the chin and throat to the sides 

 of the neck dull black, bounded by a half collar of lemon-yellow; across the chest 

 is a greyish-olive belt; sides and flanks chestnut, narrowly streaked with black; 

 remainder of under parts lemon-yellow : in other respects this species nearl}' 

 resembles the Yellow Bunting, the back, wings, and tail being verv similar ; the 

 beak is dark horn-brown above, but paler and bluish below ; the feet yellowish- 

 horn ; the iris hazel. The female is much duller, and chiefly differs from that 

 sex of the Yellow Hammer in the absence of yellow on the crown, and the 

 olivaceous rump ; the yellow of the under parts is also not so bright, and the 

 streaking is better defined. Young birds nearl}' resemble the female, but are still 

 duller. The male, after the autumn moult, has ashy fringes to the black feathers 

 of the throat, which, however, disappear in the spring. 



In disposition the Cirl Bunting appears to nearh- resemble the Yellow Ham- 

 mer ; but during the breeding season it is evidently somewhat more skulking, for 

 although I have frequently heard it singing in the hedges and in rough scrub, in 

 the lanes and little frequented roads of Kent, I have very rarel}- seen the per- 

 formers : even in an aviary I found it at all seasons ninch more shy and retiring. 

 I should, therefore, be inclined to think that an example mentioned by Lord Lilford 

 (Birds of Northampton.shire, Vol. I, p. 176) must have escaped from confinement, 

 after some years of captivity in an aviary. He sa^-s : — "as I was watching my 

 Emus and other birds in the courtyard at Lilford, a fine male Cirl Bunting flew 

 down from a high elm tree, settled ou the ground within a few yards of where I 

 stood, and began feeding on the grain which had been scattered for the Emus, and 



* In the "Zoologist" for 1891, p. 353, Mr. R. A. Swaiusou records its occurrence in CanligansUire, and 

 observes: — "This species, which has in the last two jears become rather coniuiou in parts of the adjoining 

 county of Brecon, where it was previously very rare, appears to be gradually extending its range westwards. 

 It is said to be not uncommon locally in Denbigh and Flint, and round the mouth of the river Conway. In 

 Ireland a male was watched and its note he.-uil in Donegal in 1902. 



