;308 YELLOW BUNTING. 



like the last, and does not collect into flocks com- 

 posed solely of its own species. The nest is 

 generally placed on some bank amidst herbage or 

 brush, by the root of a hedge or other cover. It 

 is formed of small roots or dried grasses, lined 

 with hair and the finer grasses. The eggs are 

 pale purplish white, with lines and blotches irre- 

 gularly dispersed. We are not aware of any 

 extra European locality for the Yellow Bunting ; 

 and middle or temperate Europe seems to be its 

 strong hold, decreasing as we gain either cf the 

 extremes. 



In the male, the principal colours are shades of 

 gamboge yellow and brown. The head, cheeks, 

 and under parts are of the latter colour, varied 

 on the head and cheeks with olive green, which, 

 though irregularly marked, has a disposition to 

 run in two lines over the head, another through 

 the eye, and a third under the auriculars. On 

 the throat and centre of the belly the colour is 

 nearly unspotted. The back is yellowish brown, 

 varying somewhat in intensity ; the centre of each 

 feather broadly streaked with blackish brown ; 

 the rump and upper tail coverts brownish orange, 

 having the shafts of the feathers dark and con- 

 spicuous, and their tips of a grayish yellow ; 

 quills are nearly black, edged narrowly with 

 gamboge yellow ; secondaries and coverts brown- 

 ish black, broadly margined with brownish 

 orange ; tail brownish black, edged with pale 

 brownish orange, the two outer feathers tipped 

 with white on the inner webs. The females have 



