202 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



York, to John Ray, bearing date 8th February 1675, as 

 follows : " The Bunting breaks not oats, but hulls them 

 dexterously, as I observe, having of them by me at the present 

 time in cages." (" Correspondence of John Ray," p. 117.) 



Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : 



Emberiza miliaria. Common Bunting Met with all over the 

 county ; common in most parts. 



Although the Corn Bunting is on the whole a common 

 species in Yorkshire, some districts are much more favoured 

 than others with its presence, owing to its partiality to fields 

 of high standing herbage, and particularly those in which 

 grain, vetches, peas, beans, or clover are grown. In the 

 more wild and moorland tracts the bird is rather scarce, 

 though in the cultivated districts of the north-west it is 

 not uncommon. The same remark applies to the majority 

 of localities where crops of cereals afford the concealment 

 for its nesting places which this bird loves, though the neigh- 

 bourhood of the seaboard contains its chief strongholds, and 

 in the fields adjoining the coast it is a common and generally 

 diffused species. During the winter months, though not entirely 

 absent from its summer haunts, it is much scarcer than in the 

 breeding season, and is usually to be found frequenting the 

 vicinity of stackyards, often in small flocks and consorting 

 with other small birds ; it also affects stubble fields, and 

 congregates at dusk, roosting in flocks in damp, wet pastures. 



As an immigrant the Corn Bunting is regularly met with 

 on the coast in October and November, generally in little 

 parties, and at this period it is very common ; it is, however, 

 perhaps less frequently reported from the Lighthouses than any 

 other of our grain eating birds. These immigrants appear to be 

 overlooked by many coast observers, probably owing to their 

 unobtrusive habits, which do not as a rule attract attention. 



Two broods are usually reared, the second set of eggs being 

 laid in August, and at times as late as September. An instance 

 is recorded of two pure white eggs being found near Wakefield. 



White, pied, and cream coloured varieties of the bird 

 are occasionally met with. 



The vernacular names are not numerous. Those used in 



