GIRL-BUNTING. CHAFFINCH. 199 



Bunting (Emberiza hortulana), recorded as killed in this 

 county. This example, in the possession of Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, is the one thus referred to, in very guarded 

 terms, by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher : " We have 

 seen a specimen of this bird, which was said to have 

 been killed near Norwich." It is also, I have no doubt, 

 the one thus noticed by the late Mr. Lombe, in his MS. 

 notes of birds not in his collection ; ( ' Ortolan Bunting, 

 shot at Earlham in the summer of 1838," as I learn 

 from Mr. Gurney, that the bird in question was said to 

 have been killed near Dalrymple's asylum, just on the 

 borders of Heigham and Earlham. An authentic speci- 

 men, however, an adult male, also in Mr. Gurney's 

 possession, was shot on the 5th of May, 1859, at 

 Lowestoffc, in the adjoining county. 



FEINGILLA CffiLEBS, Linnaeus. 

 CHAFFINCH. 



Amongst our common residents, there is none more 

 striking from its bright and varied plumage than the 

 male Chaffinch, and if only as scarce, as it is here, every- 

 where abundant, would be prized alike for its beauty 

 and sweet though simple song. " Gay as a chaffinch," 

 as the old saying goes, is true of this bird at all 

 seasons, for in winter his pert pink, pink, is heard in 

 the stack-yards, or close to our dwellings, as he joins 

 the robins and sparrows, to feed where the snow has 

 been swept from our paths. In the early spring, before 

 the trees and hedges have put forth their leaves, or 

 the summer migrants have returned to our groves, 

 his joyous song greets us in our gardens and rural 

 walks, and the very abandon of his little notes, 

 imparts a kindred feeling to ourselves, of thankful- 



