102 TILE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE YELLOW BUNTING, 



{Emberiza citrinella.} 

 PLATE X. FIGURE V. 



THIS species is common in all parts of the British Isles, and goes 

 by a variety of names the Yellow-Hammer, Yeldring, Yoldring, Yowley 

 or Yite, Yeldrock, Yoit, Skite, Goldie, Golden Bunting, and Devil's 

 Bird. It frequents wooded districts and commons covered with gorse 

 or broom, and often attracts the attention of the traveller by its bril- 

 liant plumage and elegant form, flitting before him from tree to tree, 

 or perching conspicuously on the top of a hedge or bush. From the 

 latter position the male frequently utters his somewhat harsh and mo- 

 notonous song, which consists of a 'few shrill notes, concluding with 

 a protracted one/ Indifferent as his music is, compared with that of 

 many of the woodland choristers, it is far from disagreeable to the true 

 lover of nature; Graham says 



"Even in a bird the simplest notes have charms; 

 For me I love the Yellow-Hammer's Bong. 

 When earliest buds begin to bulge, his note, 

 Simple reiterated, oft is heard 

 On leafless briar, or half-grown hedge-row thin, 

 Nor does he cease his note till autumn's leaves 

 Fall fluttering round his golden head so bright." 



Mr. Stevenson, in his interesting work on the "Birds of Norfolk," 

 says, "Though resident with us at all seasons, the Yellow Bunting 

 seems more particularly associated with the recollection of heat and 

 dust, its long-drawn weary song accords so well with the dry scorching 

 atmosphere, and, through a strange ventriloquial power (possessed by 

 this bird in an eminent degree), its notes are heard, from a distance, 

 as though close to the ear of the listener, and when apparently farthest 

 off, are not unfrequently uttered within a few yards." Whilst singing 



