IG4 THE SMALLER JiJtlTIXn TIMES. 



and wings are reddish brown, and the quill and tail feathers dusky 

 black margined with chesnut brown and olive. The bill is a bluish 

 horn-colour. The irides are dark brown, and the legs, toes, and claws 

 light yellowish brown, tinged with red. The female is much duller in 

 colour tluvn the male, and is less marked with yellow. The young, 

 when first fledged, ar^ dull yellowish brown above and yellowish grey 

 beneath, they arc without the bright yellow on tho head 



THE GIRL BUNTING, 



(Emberiza cirlus.) 

 PLATE X. FIGURE VI. 



THIS rare species bears a strong resemblance to the Yellow Bunting, 

 nnd no doubt sometimes escapes observation in consequence. It was 

 iirst identified and described as a British bird by Colonel Montagu 

 in the year 1830, from specimens observed in the neighbourhood of 

 Kuightsbridge, and in the following summer the same distinguished 

 ornithologist discovered that it bred in several localities on the coast 

 of Devonshire, and communicated his observations as to its habits, etc., 

 to the Linnean Society. Individuals have sine been met with in 

 various parts of England, most of them in the southern counties, but 

 some as far north as Yorkshire. In Scotland a single specimen was 

 procured near Edinburgh. It is a migratory bird in most of the 

 temperate and southern parts of Europe, and occurs also in Asia 

 Minor. 



Mr. Blyth, who has carefully observed tho habits of this bird in 

 i he Isle of Wight, where it is known as the French Yellow-hammer, 

 says it is much more shy than the Yellow Bunting, and frequents 

 trees rather than hedges, particularly the summits of lofty elms. 



The nest is usually placed in furze or low bushes, and is composed 

 of dry stalks of gi-ass and a little moss, and lined with long hair and 

 fibrous roots. The eggs, four or five in number, are of a dull bluish 

 or greenish white, irregularly streaked and spotted with reddish brown; 

 they vary greatly both in colour and markings. The young are hatched 

 in a little over a fortnight, and are fed by the parents exclusively on 

 insects. 



