COMMON BUNTING. 505 



frequent occurrence in many of the cultivated districts of 

 this country, and remains here throughout the year ; it is 

 perhaps more numerous in the southern counties of Eng- 

 land than elsewhere, and is most frequently observed about 

 corn-fields, whence one of its provincial appellations, that 

 of Corn Bunting, a name by which it is also known in 

 Scotland. During spring and summer, this bird, the largest 

 of the true Buntings, may be often seen perched on the 

 upper branch in a tall hedge, or on the top of a low tree, 

 uttering his harsh, unmusical notes, which are sometimes 

 continued while on wing as he flies from spray to spray. 

 The nest is finished about the middle or towards the end 

 of April ; it is usually placed on or very near the ground, 

 frequently sustained a few inches above it by the strength 

 of the coarse herbage or tangled briers among which it is 

 concealed. The nest is composed of straw and fibrous 

 roots, mixed with some dry grass, and lined with hair. 

 The eggs are four or five in number, of a reddish white, 

 or pale purple red ground, streaked and spotted with dark 

 purple brown ; the length one inch by eight lines and a half 

 in breadth. 



The adult birds feed principally on grain and seeds, for 

 the breaking down or shelling of which the palatal knob 

 of the upper mandible, and the elevated cutting edges of 

 the lower one, are admirably adapted; the young birds 

 while nestlings are probably fed with insects and their 

 larvae. Mr. Gould mentions havings seen the adult birds 

 feeding on the common cockchaffer. 



Though living in pairs during the spring and summer, 

 this species become gregarious through autumn and winter, 

 flying in flocks with Chaffinches, Sparrows, and other 

 visitors to the farm -yard and barn-door for the sake of 

 the grain to be there obtained. One destructive habit of 

 this bird is thus described by the author of the Journal of 



