202 YELLOW ISL'NTING. 



goland ; where, by the way, the Yellow Bunting is common on 

 migration in spring and autumn. 



The nest, somewhat slightly made of dry grasses and a little 

 moss, with a lining of finer material and hair, is usually placed on 

 or near the ground, in the side of a bank, or among tangled herb- 

 age, but sometimes it is built in a bush, and in the north often 

 in young spruce plantations ; exceptionally at an height of seven 

 feet. The well-known eggs, 4-5 in number, are subject to con- 

 siderable variation in shade of colour, but as a rule they are 

 purplish-white, streaked, spotted and clouded with reddish-purple, 

 and scrolled with long hair-like markings, from which, in some parts, 

 the bird has acquired the name of ' Writing-lark ' : average measure- 

 ments "85 by "63 in. Incubation, in which the male takes part, 

 lasts fourteen days, and at least two broods are produced in the year ; 

 the first eggs being laid about the middle of April, while nestlings 

 are not unfrequent in September. The familiar song, often ren- 

 dered as " Little-bit-of-bread-and no cheese," may be heard from 

 morning till night during the hottest weather, and even on a bright 

 day in winter. In summer both young and old feed largely on 

 insects ; in autumn they are partial to blackberries and other wild 

 fruits ; while seeds and grain form their principal sustenance in 

 winter, at which season large flocks frequent stubble-fields and even 

 farm-yards. In severe weather j\Ir. Booth observed a flock feeding 

 on the carcase of a horse hung up at some kennels, in Perthshire. 



Adult male : head and throat bright lemon-yellow, spotted and 

 streaked with dusky-brown ; mantle reddish-brown with blackish 

 streaks ; quills dusky-brown with narrow yellowish margins ; rump 

 and tail-coverts chestnut ; tail-feathers chiefly dark brown, with 

 elongated white patches on the two outer pairs ; under parts lemon- 

 yellow, with dusky chestnut streaks on the breast and flanks ; bill 

 bluish ; legs light brown. Length 6"5 in. ; wing y2^ in. In autumn 

 the colours are duller, owing to the pale margins of the new 

 feathers. The female is less yellow and more streaked with greyish- 

 brown, while the chestnut-brown tints are nearly absent. The young 

 show no yellow until after their first moult. 



