!4 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 



partial migrant. It is a resident in the Caucasus and Western Turkestan, and 

 there is an example in the museum at Omsk, said to have been obtained in the 

 neighbourhood. It is a resident in the Canaries and North-western Africa ; but 

 in Egypt and Arabia Petraea it is only found during winter, whence it probably 

 migrates to Central Europe to breed. It is a resident in Palestine, Asia Minor, 

 and North Persia, as far south as Shiraz." (Hist. Brit. Birds, Vol. II, pp. 148-9). 



In Great Britain the Corn-Bunting is very local in its distribution, being 

 most abundant in well-cultivated grain-producing districts. In the south of England 

 it perhaps deserves its name of " Common Bunting," though it is by no means so 

 abundant as the Yellow Hammer, but northward it is rarer and far more local ; in 

 Scotland it occurs most generally on the western lowlands during the summer, but 

 becomes much commoner in the eastern districts during the winter ; westwards 

 its range extends to St. Kilda, and northwards to the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland 

 it is local, but common in suitable districts. In October flocks of Corn-Buntings 

 migrate to our shores, considerably adding to the numbers of our home-bred birds. 



The adult male Corn- Bunting has the feathers of the upper surface pale 

 brown, with blackish central streaks ; the wing-coverts and innermost secondaries 

 dark brown, bordered with warm buff and with whitish tips ; quills dark smoky 

 brown, the first primary with yellowish margin to the outer web ; tail blackish- 

 brown, with pale edges to the feathers; lores and a superciliary line huffish-white ; 

 under parts buffish-white, the throat sparsely spotted with black, and separated 

 from the cheeks by a moustachial line of dark brown spots ; breast numerously 

 marked with triangular black dashes, which are somewhat rufescent at the sides ; 

 centre of breast and abdomen whitish, sides streaked with dark brown ; beak with 

 the upper mandible dark horn-brown, edged with yellow ; lower mandible ochre 

 yellow ; feet pale flesh-brownish ; iris hazel. The female is slightly smaller than 

 the male, and greyer in colouring. The young are more richly coloured, the 

 wing-coverts and secondaries more prominently bordered with fulvous, the spotting 

 blacker and the under parts tinged with buff. After the autumn moult the adult 

 birds are generally more rufescent than in summer. 



Owing to its sombre colouring and its habit of roosting on the ground, this 

 species has sometimes been mistaken for a Lark, and in autumn and winter it is 

 frequently netted in company with Skylarks : possibly for this reason it often 

 receives the name of Bunting-Lark. 



The Corn-Bunting chiefly haunts open and cultivated districts, more especially 

 where cereals are freely grown. It is not a nervous bird, and I have frequently 

 stood within a few yards criticizing its ungainly figure and miserable apology for 

 a song as it sat perched upon a scraggy bush, stump, or fence, apparently quite 



