GIRL BUNTINGS IN SUSSEX 69 



mouth cerise. When fully fledged the upper-parts 

 are brownish-buff, each feather being streaked with 

 blackish, as is the rump, about which there is no 

 suggestion of olive whatsoever, while the primaries 

 are dull greyish-black. The head and neck are of 

 a paler brownish-buff, also striated black ; the 

 breast is pale buffish-brown inclining on the 

 abdomen to yellowish likewise duskily streaked. 

 The bill is dark grey, the cere yellow, and the legs 

 pinkish -lilac. They remain in the nest from twelve 

 days to a fortnight, but even after leaving it they 

 are waited on by their parents for some little while. 

 After that they disappear from the nest-haunt 

 altogether, while the old birds are busy with 

 further domestic cares. What then becomes of 

 them is a mystery (the same may be said for the 

 first broods of a good many other species, and 

 notably for the first broods of the Yellow and Corn- 

 Bunting), since nowhere can I recollect meeting 

 with during summer, let alone at the breeding- 

 resort, parties or flocks of young, fledged Girl 

 Buntings. 



Incubation, solely performed by the female, is 

 of twelve or thirteen days' duration (most books 

 hold that nearly all the small birds take a fortnight 

 to hatch, whereas and on the contrary nearly 

 all sit for thirteen days at the outside and fre- 

 quently for a day or two less. For instance, I 

 have known a Lesser Whitethroat hatch-out in 

 ten days), and first clutches are prevalent between 



