THE CORN-BUNTING. 105 



satisfied with its performance : the latter has been variously described ; but, to those 

 not acquainted with the songs of some of the Marsh Troupials of the New World, 

 or the Abyssinian and Rufous-necked Weavers (which have the same character, 

 though more prolonged and varied) the most accurate idea of the discord is con- 

 veyed, by saying that it resembles the sound made by crushing broken glass in a 

 mortar. Seebohm describes the song as " tees, tees, tees, tis-is-is-s-s-r-r-re" Howard 

 Saunders as " tic-tic-teese" Lord Lilford as " tedious and rasping notes." 



Seebohm observes that " the ordinary call-note of this bird is very loud, and 

 resembles the word tzit ; the note between the sexes is a long drawn-out kaak, and 

 frequently the two notes are heard together tsit-kaak." 



The Cora- Bunting, in spite of its clumsy aspect, is very strong on the wing, 

 and may be recognised from the fact that its legs hang down as it pursues its 

 undulating flight ; it also frequently sings as it goes. It is very fond of dusting 

 itself in the road after the manner of a Sparrow or Skylark. 



The nest is either placed in a depression in the ground, in a tuft of grass, 

 ragged-robin, or other low-growing herbage ; in brambles, or freshly sprouting 

 hawthorn on ground recently cleared ; also in fields of growing corn, peas, or 

 clover : it is large, deep, cup-shaped, and roughly constructed of mingled coarse 

 and fine grass, occasionally (though rarely) with a fragment or two of moss, and 

 sometimes a few roots ; the bulk of the nest really consisting of a thick inner 

 lining of fine grass and black horsehair. The eggs number from four to six, five 

 being usual ; the)' frequently resemble abnormally large eggs of the Yellow 

 Bunting ; as a rule they are pale pinky-lilac, but sometimes creamy- white ; the 

 markings are blackish purple or deep pitchy brown, with greyish lavender shell- 

 markings ; they vary considerably in character, either consisting of finely and 

 densely scribbled lines, of boldly scrawled streaks, of combined streaks and blots, 

 of broad irregular smears and paler blurred spots, or of partly confluent blots' 

 sometimes forming a zone near the larger extremity of the egg. 



The time of nidification is from about the last week of May to the first week 

 of July, one brood only being reared in a season ; the hen is a close sitter, and 

 rarely leaves her nest until one has almost put foot or hand upon her ; so that, 

 apart from the size of the eggs, there is seldom any difficulty in identifying them. 



During the breeding-season the food of this bird consists very largely of 

 insects and their larvae ; but it has been said to eat both peas and beans, and it 

 is certain that it devours quantities of unripe corn : in autumn and winter the 

 Corn- Bunting lives almost exclusively upon grain and various kinds of seeds, in 

 search of which it frequents rick-yards, stubble-fields, and pastures. 



Although this species is tolerably common in Kent, I do not think I took its 



