CORN BUNTING. 89 
SUB-FAMILY EMBERIZIN 2. 
CORN BUNTING. 
EMBERIZA MILIARIA, Linnzeus. 
The Corn Bunting, a very local resident in Cheshire, 
is restricted during the breeding season to the Wirral 
coast and the low-lying meadow-land of the Mersey 
Valley between Stockport and Warrington. In Wirral, 
Brockholes described it as common during spring and 
summer in such places as Wallasey and the enclosed 
portions of the Dee Marshes.1_ We have observed it at 
Parkgate, and Dr. Dobie records it from the Dee Cop 
and Saltney.2 In the water-meadows of the Mersey 
Valley the bird is abundant, and in recent years it has 
invaded the tract of cultivated land which has replaced 
Carrington Moss. The absence of the bird from the 
hill pastures of East Cheshire is difficult to explain ; for 
it is fairly plentiful in similar situations in the neigh- 
bourhood of Buxton, Castleton, and Chapel-en-le-Frith, 
a few miles beyond the Derbyshire border. 
The Corn Bunting is seldom met with in winter, and 
Brockholes considered it absent from Wirral at that 
season.' Examples, however, have been obtained at 
Ince and Aldford? and we have seen one that was 
shot out of a flock at High Legh in the winter of 
1892-93. 
The monotonous song commences early in spring, 
and continues until late in summer; we have heard the 
unmistakable notes as late as the 12th of August. 
1 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 7. 2 Dobie, op. cit. p. 301. 
