132 YELLOW HAMMER. 



the back and wings are reddish brown, the tail feathers 

 are dark brown margined with brown and olive. 



The Yellow Hammer is a most pertinacious songster, 

 commencing in February and singing on until Septem- 

 ber, reiterating his peculiar notes again and again, 

 which Atkinson compares to the words '* A little bit of 

 bread and no-o che-ee-e-se". He is also a wonderfully 

 good ventriloquist. In the summer these birds feed 

 on insects, but in the autumn and winter they collect 

 in flocks and frequent the new sown fields and stubble, 

 making their meal off the grain and seeds. They may 

 also often be seen clinging to the stacks and ricks and 

 extracting the corn from stray ears. 



As a cage bird the Yellow Bunting will become very 

 tame. 



The nest is not often completed before the middle 

 of April. It is built upon the ground or in some low 

 bush or bramble, or sometimes in a hedge ; it is made 

 of dry grass and moss, and lined with roots and horse- 

 hair, and occasionally a few feathers. Once the eggs 

 are laid, the bird is very tenacious of her property, 

 and will seldom desert her nest. A curious instance in 

 connection with this was related to us. On 1st August, 

 1884, a man was digging some potatoes on the Maison 

 Dieu Estate at Dover, and was shaking the roots when 

 a nest containing five eggs of the Yellow Hammer 

 dropped out of the haulm. He collected the eggs and 

 removed them to his tool-shed, but about ten minutes 

 afterwards, seeing a bird hovering near the spot, and 

 thinking it was the parent, he replaced the nest close 

 to where he found it. The bird returned to the nest 

 and hatched the eggs. 



The eggs are a considerable trouble to young col- 

 lectors from the immense variety, both in colour and 



