BUNTING 



COMMON BUNTING CORN BUNTING BUNTINGLARK. 



PLATE LXXVI. 



Emberiza mtliaria, . PENNANT. MONTAGU. BEWICK. 



THE Common or Corn Bunting is a late breeder, rarely 

 laying before the end of May. 



The nest, which is begun in April, is usually placed on 

 the ground, or only slightly raised above it by coarse 

 herbage, and frequently on a bank, sometimes in a bush, 

 or under a hedge, among the grass, is composed of dry 

 straws and grasses, lined with smaller grasses, and small 

 fibrous roots, moss, and hair, rather neatly but not finely 

 compacted. It is somewhat large and thick, but shallow 

 inside. 



The eggs, generally four, or rarely five or six in number, 

 and of an obtuse oval shape, or of a whitish colour, with a 

 slight tinge of grey or red, sometimes pale purple-red, 

 streaked and spotted in a very irregular manner with dark 

 purple-brown and pale greyish-purple. 



Booth in his Rough Notes gives some very interesting 

 details. "This species," he says, "appears to be late in nesting ; 

 I have repeatedly seen fresh eggs mown out in June when 

 the hay was cut the fields of seed-grass being the favourite 

 breeding - quarters of this Bunting in Sussex : their nests 



VOL. I. l6 9 Y 



