76 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Nest. Generally placed on the ground, but occasionally in 

 a gorse bush. It is composed of dry grass and bents, with a 

 few twigs and rootlets and a little moss. It is lined with fine 

 roots. 



Eggg. Four to six in number. From the curious "scrib- 

 bling" on the eggs the Yellow Bunting, or " Yellow Hammer," 

 as it is generally called,* is in many places known as the 

 " Writing Lark." By this name it was always familiar to 

 us in our school-days in Northamptonshire. Ground-colour 

 of eggs varying from stone-grey to reddish- or pinkish-grey, 

 or even white. The markings always irregular, no two 

 eggs being exactly alike, sometimes with greyish underlying 

 blotches, but generally very distinctly spotted and lined with 

 overlying marks of purplish-brown. Axis, 07 5-0*9 7 ; diam., 

 0-6-0-75. 



THE CIRL BUNTING. EMBERIZA CIRLUS. 



Emberiza cirlus, Linn., S. N., i., p. 311 (1766); Macg., Br. B., 



i., p. 450 (1837); Dresser, B. Eur. } iv., p. 177, pi. 210 



(1871); Newt. ed. Yarr., ii., p. 50 (1876); B. O. U. List 



Br. B., p. 60 (1883); Seeb., Br. B., ii., p. 156 (1884); 



Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., xii., p. 525 (1888) ; Saunders, 



Man., p. 203 (1889); Wyatt, Br. B., pi. 17 (1894), 



Adult Male. Somewhat resembles the Yellow Bunting, but is 



chestnut above, streaked with black. The breast is chestnut 



and the abdomen yellow, the flanks streaked with blackish ; 



lower back and rump olive-greenish, streaked with dusky ; head 



and hind-neck olive-green, streaked with black ; eyebrow 



yellow ; throat black, followed by a yellow patch. Total 



length, 5-5 inches; oilmen, 0-45; wing, 3-9; tail, 2*45; tarsus, 



0*65. 



The winter plumage is duller, the feathers being edged with 

 olive, and the summer plumage is attained by the gradual 

 wearing off of the dull edges. 



Adult Female. Lacks the black and yellow markings on the 

 face ; the throat and breast striped ; lesser wing-coverts greenish- 

 grey, different from the back. This last feature will always 

 distinguish it from the female Yellow Bunting. 



* If the vernacular name is to be employed, it should properly be Yellow 

 , as it comes doubtless from the German word " Ammei'," <.i Bunting. 



