BLACK-HEADED BUNTING. 167 
Its song is very characteristic of the genus, and, though more musical and 
less monotonous than that of the Yellow Hammer, is always the same, 
very short, consisting of only two or three slight variations of a not very 
loud nor yet very melodious note, rapidly repeated, with a slight pause in 
the middle. The ordinary call-note is a loud chit chit, and the call-note 
of one sex to the other a more plaintive and longer-continued ¢see-a. In 
autumn the Black-headed Bunting makes some havoc in the corn-fields ; 
but in summer it is said to vary its seed-dict with grasshoppers and fruit : 
its depredations do not last long, for Dr. Kriiper states that many leave for 
their winter-quarters before July is over, and by the middle of August they 
have nearly all disappeared. 
The nest of the Black-headed Bunting is seldom placed at any great 
height above the ground; it is very frequently in a small bush, but the 
favourite situation is amongst trailing plants such as clematis, briars, and 
vines. In the gardens near Constantinople it is built principally amongst 
the rows of peas or beans. Canon Tristram states that he has frequently 
found it on the ground. It is rather a bulky structure, and though neatly 
finished inside, has a somewhat loose and ragged appearance outside. The 
foundation is made of dry grass, thistle-leaves, and other coarse material ; 
but the main portion of the nest is constructed entirely of the yellow dry 
stalks of various small flowering plants, the seed-capsules on which are 
the most prominent object, and conjoined with the stiffness of the stalks, 
which prevents them from bending easily, gives the nest a very slender 
and unfinished look. The lining is of entirely different materials, brown 
instead of yellow, and consists of dry grass, roots, and slender stalks 
without any seed-capsules, with not unfrequently a final addition of goat’s 
hair or a few horse-hairs. The inside diameter is 2? inches, with a depth 
of 2 inches. ; 
The eggs of this bird are usually four in number, not unfrequently five ; 
but on the island of Corfu it is said to lay as many as six. Few eggs vary 
so much in size or shape: a typical egg measures ‘85 by *7 inch, an un- 
usually long and narrow egg is 1:0 by ‘6 inch, and an unusually small egg is 
°84 by ‘6 inch. There is scarcely any difference in the ground-colour, 
which only varies from pale greenish blue to very pale greenish blue; the 
overlying spots are brown, and the underlying spots are grey. On some 
eges all the spots are small, on others they are all large; but more 
generally both large and small spots are found on the same egg. They 
are generally most thickly distributed on the large end, sometimes con- 
fluent, but occasionally are evenly distributed over the entire surface. 
The fact that these eggs are so different from those of any other European 
Bunting has induced some field-ornithologists to acquiesce in the removal 
of this bird and its Asiatic ally, E. luteola, whose eggs are very similar, to 
the genus Euspiza, a heterogeneous group of birds possessing no characters 
