198 ITS NEST AND SONG. 



Yeldring, Yoldring, Yowley or Yite, Yolkring or Yeldrock, 

 Skite or Devil's-bird. It is about seven inches and a half 

 long, and the colour of its plumage is chiefly yellow, of 

 different shades, having on the back and breast a red tinge. 

 Many of the feathers are tipped with black, and shaded with 

 brownish red, so that altogether this is a very handsome 

 bird, although being so common it attracts little admiration. 

 In most districts of England this species abounds, but most 

 in those parts which are well wooded. 



* Towards the beginning of April,' says Macgillivray, 

 i these birds choose their partners without the manifesta- 

 tion of angry feelings, they being less addicted to quarrel 

 than most small birds. When vegetation has advanced, 

 they repair to bushy places and the willowy sides of brooks 

 and streams, and commence the construction of their nests, 

 which are bulky, composed externally of coarse grasses and 

 small twigs, and neatly lined with fine grass, fibrous roots 

 and hair.' The nest is usually placed on the ground, or 

 sometimes in a clump of thick grass and herbage. The eggs, 

 four or five in number, are of a regular oval form, purplish 

 white, marked with linear and angular streaks, and a few 

 irregular dots of black. They are about ten-twelfths of an 

 inch long. The lines and angles sometimes observable on 

 the eggs have been thought to bear some resemblance to 

 written characters ; hence the name ' Writing-lark,' some- 

 times applied to this bird, which, as a songster, is inferior 

 to most of our feathered vocalists ; and this inferiority is 

 recognised by Grahame, whose lines we shall presently 

 quote. Neville Wood, too, describes the song of the 

 Yellow Bunting as i harsh and monotonous, consisting only 

 of one oft-repeated strain, comprising two or three tones, 

 the first occurring several times, with a kind of confused 

 turn at the end. Though not remarkable for power, the 

 notes are audible at a very considerable distance.' 



Mr. Salmon, in l The Naturalist,' mentions having found the 

 nest of this bird at the extraordinary elevation of seven feet 

 from the ground, among the branches of some broom, which, 

 though naked at the bottom, were close and bushy at the 

 head ; and Mr. Blackwell, in < The Zoological Journal,' re- 



