100 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
yellowhammer, but harsher, being all its accomplish- 
ments. 
But the Yellow Bunting (£. citrimella) is by far the 
most common species ; it throngs every hedge and bush, 
and you cannot go many yards in the cultivated dis- 
tricts without seeing several. It delights to roll itself 
in the dust on the roads in summer time, and with 
such vigour that it raises quite a cloud. Its flight is a 
very broken one, a mere series of flittings, seldom con- 
tinued for any distance. It is a handsome bird, though 
subject to variation in the markings, some having the 
yellow of the neck and breast much brighter and more 
unmarked than the others. I have seen one which had 
the whole of the head and neck a bright, clear yellow, 
entirely devoid of the usual olive-brown markings— 
most likely a sign of age. Its call, for it cannot be en- 
titled a song, is very monotonous, and is well described 
by Bechstein by the syllables “ tee, tee,” repeated rapidly 
six or seven times, and ending with the more prolonged 
note ‘‘tchee.” 
It usually places its nest on the ground, the bank of 
a hedgerow being a favourite situation, and once or 
twice I have seen it placed on the thick lower branches 
of the hedge itself. The eggs sometimes differ remark- 
ably in size, some nests containing one or two very much 
smaller than the rest. I have one I took out of a nest 
where the others were-the ordinary size, which is only 
about half their dimensions. 
The nest is composed externally of grass and fine 
roots, but internally it is a thick mass of hair, chiefly 
cowhair, and in form is very shallow. I have taken one 
which was the smallest possible remove from being 
a oe \ 
