134 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



ting attentions of the admirable little creature to its 

 adopted child. We had reason also to admire its 

 instinctive choice of the food most desirable for its 

 nursling. The cage was supplied with various sorts to 

 suit the several tastes of its inhabitants, such as seeds, 

 crumbs of bread, German paste, and meat. The latter 

 only was selected by the Bunting, although himself a 

 seed-eater, as the most proper sustenance for a nestling 

 Cuckoo. The young bird appeared to entertain a 

 grateful, or at least a conscious, sense of the attentions 

 of its little friend, in as far as it always addressed its 

 supplication for food to it alone, never descending from 

 its perch to supply itself, unless the irresistible tempta- 

 tion of a hairy caterpillar was offered, on which 

 occasion its laziness was so far overcome that it would 

 hastily descend, and seize it with great avidity." 



The song of the Yellow Bunting is decidedly mono- 

 tonous, yet still, I think, of a plaintive and, to my ear at 

 least, a pleasing character. It consists of a few short 

 syllables, followed by a long note in a lower key, and 

 not unlike the words : " A little bit of bread and no 

 cheese." This last long-drawn syllable is frequently 

 omitted, perhaps from laziness, or, as has been sug- 

 gested, on account of the approach of another male 

 Yellow Hammer, whom the songster hastens to attack, 

 I have several times heard Yellow Hammers with 

 curiously varied songs, and on one occasion followed 

 one for a long distance on the Great Orme's Head, 

 imagining that it was some other species of Bunting. 



Mr. Watters is of opinion that the Yellow Hammer 

 selects three in the afternoon as the most suitable time 

 for the exercise of its vocal powers ; for, no matter how 



