YELLOW BUNTING. 197 



its useful qualifications also, as an insect eater, we 

 should, in the present species, have lost one of our most 

 attractive rural objects. How brilliant is the rich 

 yellow and bro^vn of this handsome bunting, as we find 

 it amidst the whins and brakes upon our open heaths, 

 perching with the sprightly chats and titlarks on the 

 topmost twigs of the furze bushes, and uttering at inter- 

 vals that monotonous note, which, besides its true and 

 well known song, is so often repeated ; whilst the tints 

 of its plumage vie even with the brightness of the 

 flowering gorse. Though resident with us at all seasons, 

 it seems more particularly associated with the recollection 

 of heat and dust, when, perched on a fence or amongst 

 the branches of a roadside tree, its long drawn weary 

 song accords so well with the dry scorching atmosphere, 

 and, through a strange ventriloquial power (possessed 

 by this bu-d in an eminent degree), its notes are heard, 

 from a distance, as though close to the ear of the 

 listener, and when apparently furthest off, are not unfre- 

 quently uttered within a few yards. Even in confinement 

 this vocal peculiarity is equally perceptible, as I have 

 often Hstened to one m my in-door aviary, and though 

 watching the bird at the time, have scarcely been able to 

 persuade myself that its low soft notes did not proceed, as 

 they seemed to do, from the garden outside. As a cage 

 bird the yellow hammer, though looking a giant amongst 

 the smaller finches, is exceedingly gentle in manner, 

 maintaining his own rights with a quiet dignity that 

 brooks no insult, though he never interferes with others. 

 In fact a feathered gentleman, and graceful in action 

 he floats, rather than flies, from one perch to another, 

 or amuses himself, by repeatedly, springing into the air, 

 and with a rapid turn of the wings, alighting again 

 on the same spot. The numbers of this bunting 

 are undoubtedly increased in autumn by migi'atory 

 arrivals, specimens at that season being picked up 



