88 BROWN BIRDS WITH SPOTTED BREASTS. 



similarly preceded by some six or seven detached 

 notes, is distinctly melancholy in its modulation, 

 whilst the final note of the Corn-Bunting is purely 

 mechanical in quality, and has a shivering, tinkling 

 character quite different from the nasal drawl of the 

 Yellowhammer. The Corn-Bunting lacks the white 

 side-feathers so conspicuous in the tails of the 

 Buntings when flying, and is somewhat Lark-like 

 in its general aspect. It nests in grass and affects 

 hedge-bordered and tree-dotted grass lands, associating 

 in autumn with the bands of Finches that feed in the 

 stubble-fields. 



WRYNECK.— Plate 37. 7h inches. Upper parts 

 brownish -gray, finely speckled and mottled with 

 black, brown, buff, and gray ; sides of head, throat, 

 and fore-neck pale buf?', with dark cross-lines ; a dark 

 patch on the ears ; breast and belly white, with dark 

 arrow-head marks ; wings and tail barred transversely. 

 Summer migrant. 



Eggs.— 7-10, pure white; '8 ^ -6 (plate 125). 



Nest. — A hole in a decaying tree not far up the 

 trunk, the bedding being the rotting wood itself. 



The Wryneck occurs chiefly in the south and 

 south -eastei'n parts of England, and is rare or absent 

 from the midland counties northw^ards. Arriving 

 in April, it betakes itself to gardens and orchards, 

 parks and woods, where it announces its advent by its 

 frequently uttered call, ' Pee I ' repeated many times in 

 succession, and diminishing in speed, volume, and pitch 

 to its rather melancholv close. Occasionallv the bird 



