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Breeding Range: The British Isles, S. Sweden, and all central and 

 southern Europe, but absent from northern Russia. [Also N. Africa, 

 Palestine and Asia Minor to Turkestan.] 



In Great Britain the Corn Bunting is a local resident, being perhaps British 

 most numerous in the maritime counties and in the flat corn lands, but is ^^^^' 

 not uncommon locally in the little walled in crofts up to 1000 ft. It is 

 not found in mountainous, moorland, or thickly wooded districts, and is 

 also rare or absent from many cultivated and open districts inland. In 

 N. Wales it is practically confined to a belt one mile wide along the 

 coast, but breeds inland near Llangollen and Montgomery (Forrest). It 

 breeds in the Isle of Man, and is generally common in Ireland near the 

 coast and on the islands, but less numerous and local in the interior. It 

 inhabits most of the islands off the W. coast of Scotland and is also common 

 on the Orkneys and Shetlands. 



In Norway it is only known to breed in the extreme south (Lister con- 

 and Jaederen), but in Sweden it is distributed over the southern and Avestern ^"*^"'^^^ 



'^ .. ^ Europe. 



provinces as well as Oland. South of the Baltic and the Gulf of Riga it 

 is generally distributed in suitable localities, being very plentiful on the 

 plains of Jutland, but is said to be local in the south of Russia. In the 

 countries bordering the Mediterranean it is very common, and also in the 

 islands, especially Sardinia. 



In the British Isles the nest is usually placed in long mowing grass, Nest. 

 clover, or corn fields, but occasionally it is found in furze, low scrub, 

 or briars, and is then raised some little distance from the ground. It 

 is built of roots, bents, grasses, etc., lined with finer grasses and some- 

 times a few hairs. There is very often some large and conspicuous plant 

 in the neighbourhood of the nest. On the arid plains of southern Spain 

 it is frequently found under the shelter of one of the thistles or large 

 liliaceous plants which are common there, while near Gibraltar Irby found 

 many nests on the edge of marshes. The hen is a close sitter, and the 

 cock generally keeps on droning ont his monotonous song at intervals 

 from some point of vantage such as a wall, telegraph wire, or bush, in 

 the neighbourhood of the nest. 



3 — 5 in number, occasionally 6, in the British Isles; on the Continent Eggs. 

 Rey gives 5 as the usual clutch, but 7 have been found in southern Spain. 

 They are subject to much variation, some being almost white, or pale blue 

 with faint brown markings, but in most cases the ground colour varies 

 from greyish or yellowish white to warm rufous brown, while the markings 

 are of the most varied character, and consist generally of pale lavender 

 or greyish brown underlying blotches, spots and streaks, with very bold 

 'worm-lines', streaks and spots of deep blackish brown, sometimes tending 

 to form a cap or zone at the big end. An unusual variety has only a few 



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