Thk Ciri, Bl'xtixg 119 



at which several Sparrows and Chaffinches were already busy. I had this bird in 

 full view for some minutes, as he hopped about and regaled himself, till he was 

 attacked by a Sparrow, and flew up to the tree from whence he had come." * 



The song of the Cirl Bunting differs from that of the Yellow Hammer chiefly 

 in the absence of the terminal double note ; it has, therefore, been compared with 

 that of the Lesser Redpoll and Lesser Whitethroat. The call-note of the young 

 and adult are said by the late Mr. Witchell to be " not unlike the call-squeak of 

 the Tree Pipit"; according to Seebohm the adult call-note "sounds like a 

 monotonous and plaintive chea-c/icy 



Subsequent to taking niv first nest of the Cirl Bunting in 1^77, I frequenlh^ 

 heard and occasionally saw the cock-bird in the same neighbourhood, but I did 

 not obtain a nest again till 1884, when I found two at Tunstall, the first on the 

 24th and the second on the 30th of AIa\' : four years later I obtained permission 

 to nest in some private grounds near Frinstead, in Kent, and on the 26th May I 

 took m}- fourth and last nest of this species. 



The Cirl Bunting appears to be double-brooded, the first nest being usually 

 built some time in Ma}-, and the second in July. The sites chosen for the nest 

 are ver}- similar to those selected by the Yellow Bunting : according to Howard 

 Saunders who found it not uncommon on the chalk-hills of Surrey, it "is placed 

 in a bank among the stems of a hazel or other bush, though sometimes in furze, 

 or juniper, at a little distance from the ground." My nests were all found within 

 a foot or two above the earth, the first in a stunted furze-bush tangled with a 

 blackberry vine, two others in low juniper scrub overrun with bramble, and the 

 fourth in a young hawthorn bush. 



The nest is tolerably compact internally, though externally somewhat loosely 

 put together, the outer wall usually consisting of coarse dead grass, bents, and 

 vegetable fibre ; the lining of fine fibre and black horse-hair ; occasionally a little 

 moss is said to be used in the lining ; but this material is rarel}- used by any of 

 the British Buntings. The eggs number from four to five (my nests contained 

 respectively foiir, four, three, and two eggs) and are often somewhat broader than 

 those of the Yellow Hammer, they are white, generally very faintly tinged with 

 lilac ; streaked, spotted, and dotted with purplish-black, especially towards the 

 larger end ; with small, and frequently indistinct lilacine-greyish shell-spots. The 

 markings often terminate in round blots ; and, occasionall}', some of the streaks 

 are chocolate. Seebohm describes an abnormal nest in his collection as "somewhat 

 looselj' put together, and made externally of various plant-stems, blades of grass, 



' Howard Sauiulers observes that in .snow}- weather, iu the south of I'rance, lie has seen small flocks 

 feeding along with Sparrows and other Finches, on the refuse iu the streets, but Lord Lilford's bird was noticed 

 at the end of June, when one would have expected it to be shy. — .\.G.B. 



