146 BRITISH BIRDS 



are remarkably tame, and will allow a person to approach within a 

 few yards and admire their colours and various motions as they 

 cling to and climb, parrot-like, about the twigs in search of seed and 

 fruit. When flying they call to each other with a loud shrill note, 

 and in late winter and spring both male and female utter a low 

 warbling song. 



The nest is placed in a pine-tree, at a distance from the ground of 

 from five to forty feet ; it is formed outwardly of twigs, roots, and dry 

 grass ; the inner part, of wool, hair, and feathers. Four or five cgu* 

 are laid, white or greenish white in ground-colour, spotted witli 

 reddish brown, with Tinder-markings of pale brown. 



Corn-Bunting. 

 Emberiza miliaria. 



Upper parts yellowish brown with dusky spots ; under parts 

 yellowish white spotted and streaked with dusky. Length, seven 

 and a half inches. 



The present species is the largest of our five buntings, and is the 

 most generally diffused throughout the British Islands. It is often 

 called the common bunting, but is scarcely deserving of the name, 

 as in most places it is less common than the yellow bunting. It is 

 certainly more local than that bird, although in some localities, 

 both in the south and north of England, it is more numerous than 

 any other bird of its genus. Nor is its other name of corn-bunting 

 more strictly accurate, for though it is a frequenter of corn-fields in 

 spring and summer, it is equally partial to hay-meadows, commons, 

 and other open places. Like the skylark, it loves an open sky and 

 a wide horizon ; b.ut, not being able to soar, it seeks an elevation of 

 some kind to perch on a hedge-top, or the summit of a bush, or a 

 tall weed in the middle of a field of corn, will serve it ; but, best of 

 all, it loves a telegraph-wire, where it sits on high above the world, 

 in sunshine and wind, and without the slightest exertion is able to 

 experience agreeable sensations like those of the kestrel, lark, or 

 tern, when suspended motionless in mid-air. On a telegraph-wire 

 it will sit contentedly by the hour, delivering its song at regular 

 intervals. 



The buntings all those included in the genus Emberiza differ 

 from other finches in their more scdi-ntarv habits and heavier 



