148 



BRITISH BIRDS 



Yellowhammer. 

 Emberiza citrinella. 



FIG. 51. YELLOWHAMMER. natural size. 



Head, neck, breast, and under parts bright yellow, more or less 

 streaked with dusky ; flanks streaked with brownish red ; upper 

 parts reddish brown spotted with dusky. Female: the yellow 

 parts less bright, and spotted with dull reddish brown. Length, 

 six and a quarter inches. 



The yellowhammer, or yellow bunting, is one of the most gene- 

 rally diffused species in the British Islands, and, on account of its 

 habit of always perching on the summit of a bush or other elevation, 

 and of its bright yellow head and neck, which make it conspicuous 

 at a distance, it is a familiar object to every person in the rural dis- 

 tricts. It differs from the corn -bunting both in a brighter colour- 

 ing and in a slimmer and more graceful figure. But it is a heavy 

 bird nevertheless, of a sedentary disposition, and during the warm 



