EMBEEIZA CITRINELLA 233 



Its call note is rather harsh and monotonous, and its song, if such it 

 can be called, is distinctly poor. 



The Corn-Bunting commences nesting operations in Tunisia 

 somewhat earlier than it does in Europe, and by the end of April 

 young birds on the wing may occasionally be met with. As a rule, 

 however, nests with eggs are not to be found until the beginning of 

 May, and in the extreme north of the Kegency even a little later. 

 The nest is nearly always placed on the ground, among rough grass 

 or under a clod in the middle of a corn-field, and is loosely constructed 

 of rootlets and grasses, with a lining of finer grasses and hair. The 

 eggs, four or five in number, are of a pale lilac colour, streaked and 

 spotted with a darker shade of lilac and reddish-brown. Average 

 measurements 23 X 17 mm. 



EMBERIZA CITRINELLA, Linnaeus. 



YELLOW BUNTING. 



Emberiza citrinella, Linn. Sijst. Nat. i, p. 309 (1766) ; Sharpe, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus. xii, p. 515 ; Loche, Expl. Sci. Alrj. Ois. i, p. 170 

 (1867) ; Eoenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 232 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 53. 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from Ain-Draham, North Tunisia. 



Forehead lemon-yellow ; crown dusky-green, with blackish streaks ; 

 nape greyish-green ; back and scapulars rufescent-brown, with black middles 

 to the feathers ; rump cinnamon-brown ; tail blackish, the two outer rectrices 

 with white at the tip and on the greater portion of the inner webs ; quills 

 blackish-brown, margined with yellowish-green ; secondaries broadly margined 

 with cinnamon ; lores and a line behind the eyes lemon-yellow ; ear-coverts 

 blackish ; chin, throat and sides of neck lemon-yeUow, washed with dark 

 green ; breast greenish-yellow ; lower breast and abdomen lemon-yellow, 

 striped on sides and flanks with cinnamon. 



Iris dark brown, bill blackish ; feet pale brown. 



Total length 6-50 inches, wing 3-30, culmen -40, tarsus -70. 



The Yellow Bunting or Yellow Hammer, does not seem to be at all 

 common in Tunisia, or indeed anywhere on the African Continent, 

 although Loche includes the species in his list of Algerian birds, 

 saying that he had met with it frequently in the province of Algiers, 



