YELLOW BUNTING. 57 



she tries various alluring antics to entice an intruder 

 away. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Yellow Bunting are four or five in number, 

 and vary in ground colour from white tinged with pur- 

 ple to purplish-brown. They are streaked, spotted, and 

 flecked with dark purplish-brown, and with a few similar 

 underlying markings of violet-gray. The amount and 

 distribution of the pencilled markings vary considerably. 

 On some eggs the marks are broad and bold, and occa- 

 sionally expand into blotches ; on others they are finer 

 and interlaced in endless confusion, either over the entire 

 surface or round the larger end, and emphasized here 

 and there with broader and bolder scrawls. It is impos- 

 sible to describe their endless pencillings, but it may be 

 remarked that a strong family likeness runs through all 

 eggs of this species. Average measurement, '87 inch in 

 length, by "65 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed by 

 both sexes, lasts fourteen days. 



Diagnostic characters : The distinct purple shade 

 which suffuses the eggs of the Yellow Bunting, combined 

 with the purplish-brown markings, and the elaborate 

 and tortuous pencilling, are sufficient to distinguish them 

 from those of all the allied species breeding in the British 

 Islands. 



