YELLOW BUNTING 



Euibenza citnnella 



Yellow-hammer is the commonest and most widely 

 distributed of its genus throughout the British Islands. 

 It breeds in almost every part of Great Britain, even on 

 the Outer Hebrides and on the Orkneys, and is a visitor 

 to the Shetlands, though it is said not to breed there. It 

 is as common and as widely distributed in Ireland. 



This beautiful little bird is perhaps quite as well 



known as the Robin or Sparrow. At all seasons of the year it frequents the 

 farmyards, gardens, fields, and moors, and may generally be seen perched on 

 the topmost twig of some bush, uttering its monotonous song, which the 

 country people liken to the words ' little bit of bread and no-o-o c/teese.' 

 Its favourite haunts are the commons, fields, and lanes among well-cultivated 

 lands, but it is also seen in numbers on the edges of the moors, among the 

 rough ground overgrown with patches of whin and stunted thorn-bushes. It 

 does not inhabit the woods, but frequents the open patches of ground between 

 the plantations. In the autumn the Yellowhammers congregate into flocks 

 and frequent the stubbles and farmyards, where they obtain all sorts of seeds 

 and small quantities of scattered grain. Yellowhammers will eat most kinds 

 of grain, which is generally obtained on the ground after it has fallen from the 

 ear, and they also feed on the small seeds of many of the most troublesome 

 weeds. Throughout the summer and well on into autumn they are chiefly 

 insectivorous, and the young are fed on insects and caterpillars. 



The plaintive and somewhat monotonous song of the Yellowhammer 

 is heard early in February, and is continued most pertinaciously till late in 

 September. When singing, the bird usually perches on some conspicuous twig 

 on a hedge, or on the top of a wall or fence-post, where, if not disturbed, it 

 will remain for some time, singing at intervals in answer to the other birds 

 VOL. iv. 2 c 97 



