in the neighbourhood. Its call-note is a curious long-drawn ' ticJirr^ somewhat 

 difficult to imitate, which in the pairing season is lengthened into 'tick, tick, 

 tick, tchurr.' In early spring the males are most pugnacious little birds, and 

 may often be seen chasing each other with great rapidity among the furze- 

 bushes. 



The Yellowhammer pairs in the middle of March, but eggs are seldom 

 laid before the middle of April, sometimes not till much later. The bird is 

 very much attached to its nesting-site, and will continue to build year after 

 year in the same spot, though the nest be destroyed repeatedly. Should the 

 eggs be removed, the bird will often continue to lay in the same nest. The 

 site chosen for the nest varies considerably : sometimes it is built among 

 brambles and briars at some distance from the ground, sometimes in furze- 

 bushes or in small fir-trees on the outskirts of a plantation, occasionally at 

 a considerable height from the ground in some thick hedge. It is, however, 

 most frequently built on the ground in a bank near a hedge or beside the 

 road, in a small cavity at the foot of some coarse grass or weed, and is well 

 put together, though rather a slight structure. The outside is built of dry 

 grasses, rootlets, and moss, lined with fine root-fibres and horse-hair. 



The male bird shares the duties of incubation with his mate, and when 

 not sitting is usually close at hand chirping his monotonous song. When 

 the nest is approached, the bird sits so closely that she may sometimes be 

 touched by the hand ere she quits her eggs ; and when at length put off, she 

 will feign lameness and flutter along the ground in her efforts to attract atten- 

 tion from her nest. 



From three to five eggs are laid, which vary considerably in character in 

 different clutches. Typical clutches are purplish white in ground-colour, streaked, 

 spotted, and dashed with rich purplish brown and a few writing-like scrawls 

 of black; underlying spots and streaks are purplish grey. Some specimens 

 are purplish brown in ground-colour, faintly marked and streaked with brown ; 

 some are covered with a mass of irregular scrawls ; while a few are clouded 

 with pale brown blotches, over which are a few dark brown spots and streaks. 

 They vary in length from '94 to '80 inch, and in breadth from '69 to '59 inch. 

 Two broods are reared in the year, and it is no uncommon thing to find nests 

 containing fresh eggs well on in August. 



